Recent Legislatures in Texas have diverted some funding from state lockups to community-based supervision and diversions. Reallocating funding in this way continues to better protect the public safety and reduce crime, as a recent report details.

A logjam on the budget broke swiftly late Wednesday as the House and Senate advanced water and school fund measures each was demanding of the other.

The Senate plan and a budget passed by the House last month both include $500 million in new revenue, including hikes in gasoline and cigarette taxes.

Gov. Rick Snyder and Republican legislative leaders reached an agreement Tuesday on how to divvy up nearly $702 million in surplus revenue as lawmakers race to complete the 2014 fiscal year budget by June 1.

The single largest increase by far in the Senate budget plan is an additional $584 million dollars plowed into Medicaid in the upcoming year. Next year, the increase will be $796 million.

House and Senate negotiators settled Friday on a roughly $100 billion state budget. It would reverse most of the historic spending cuts that socked Texas classrooms in 2011, give state employees a modest raise and still afford Republicans the political cover of not busting a cap on state spending.

Members of the Senate Finance Committee Thursday immediately started poking holes in a $25 billion state spending plan the House of Representatives approved last week.

Scott's extensive veto list is more than twice as large as his list last year, and his largest since his first year in office. It slashed state spending from $74.5 billion to $74.1 billion.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee released a nearly $34 billion state budget proposal, a spending plan significantly less than the plan Gov. Deval Patrick unveiled earlier this year.

After a round of painful mid-year budget cuts, the state finished fiscal year 2012 with a $133 million surplus, proportionate to Florida's. But the Jindal administration needs to use most of that to move money around to get fiscal year 2013 out of the red

Recent Legislatures in Texas have diverted some funding from state lockups to community-based supervision and diversions. Reallocating funding in this way continues to better protect the public safety and reduce crime, as a recent report details.

It is well understood that the federal government must make spending cuts-these cuts will most likely drastically change the amount of federal dollars that are allocated to the states. Unfortunately for most states, dependence on federal funding has continually risen since 2008.

Was the slow recovery of the U.S. economy from the trough of the Great Recession anticipated? 

State governments pay on average 6.2 percent more per hour in wages and benefits, including pension benefits, than the private sector for the 22 major occupational categories that exist in both sectors. This combination of excessive wages, pensions and other benefits at the state and local levels is wreaking havoc on public finances in nearly every state.

This fiscal report card on the governors examines state budget actions since 2010 using statistical data to grade the governors on their taxing and spending records-governors who have cut taxes and spending the most receive the highest grades, while those who have increased taxes and spending the most receive the lowest grades.

States will face particularly intense budgetary challenges in education and health care in fiscal 2013, putting pressure on all budget areas - including corrections and infrastructure. As budgets face strain from slow revenue growth and expenditure pressures, states will likely confront tough budgetary choices in the next fiscal year.

Highways do not - and, except for brief periods in our nation's history - never have paid for themselves through the taxes that highway advocates label "user fees." To have a meaningful national debate over transportation policy-particularly at a time of tight public budgets-it is impor- tant to get past the myths and address the real, difficult choices America must make for the 21st century.

After decades of experience managing offenders and analyzing data, practitioners and researchers have identified key factors that can help predict the likelihood of an individual returning to crime, violence or drug use. When developed and used correctly, these risk/needs assessment tools can help criminal justice officials appropriately classify offenders and target interventions to reduce recidivism, improve public safety and cut costs.

Most states are facing budget crises as they plan FY 2013 and beyond. With fewer dollars available, state criminal justice agencies are challenged to increase public safety while coping with smaller budgets. This report distills lessons from 14 states that passed research-driven sentencing and corrections reform in 2011 and is based on interviews with stakeholders and experts, and the experience of technical assistance staff at the Vera Institute of Justice. It is intended to serve as a guide to policy makers and others interested in pursuing evidence-based justice reform in their jurisdiction.

Researchers found that the total taxpayer cost of prisons in the 40 states that participated in this study was 13.9 percent higher than the cost reflected in those states' combined corrections budgets. The total price to taxpayers was $39 billion, $5.4 billion more than the $33.6 billion reflected in corrections budgets alone.

despite constraints that are both political and self-imposed, we believe that it is quite possible to reduce unnecessary and wasteful spending throughout the New Mexico budget. In order to provide a guide for policymakers, the Rio Grande Foundation has compiled a list of specific budget reduction ideas.

Less than half of Delawareans receive unemployment insurance benefits when they lose their job. The claims process is time consuming and demeaning for many. Errors in payment and outright fraud waste millions. There is a better way. Personal Unemployment Accounts (UA), run like a 401K or IRA, can provide an attractive alternative.

The overcrowding of prisons and the breakdown of the parole and probation system has become a serious problem in America. Criminals released early from prison-in order to relieve overcrowding-are often poorly supervised and free to commit new crimes once they are back on the streets.

In corrections, there is a strong public interest in producing the greatest reduction in crime-particularly the most serious crimes-for every dollar spent. Conversely, the criminal justice system should cost-ef ectively maximize positive outcomes such as victim restitution, victim satisfaction, and the employment of of enders as productive citizens.

With limited corrections resources, how can Texas best protect public safety and reform offenders with every dollar spent? One answer lies in the more ef ective use of risk assessment for the more than half a million adults on probation or parole in Texas.

Both Federal and State Governments are responsible for UI. Federal law imposes an unemployment tax on employers, but provides that they may receive credit against most of the tax
if their State has an approved UI program. This tax offset approach provided the original incentive for all States to enact UI laws.

Cascade seeks to initiate a pilot program that would allow employers and workers in Oregon to opt-out of the mandatory UI system and participate in an alternative arrangement of Individual Asset Accounts (IAAs).

There are many solutions consistent with the principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility, and public safety that have proven successful in empirical research and in practice on a limited basis, iincluding geriatric parole, expanding problem-solving courts, and creating clear criteria so that existing community-based residential corrections beds are used for diverting appropriate offenders from prison rather than as an add-on for offenders who can be safely supervised on basic probation. Also, spreading the use of evidence-based practices, such as graduated sanctions in probation, can increase compliance and thereby reduce probation revocations. This paper includes a list of such recommendations to further improve corrections in Nebraska, address the state’s estimated $968 million budget shortfall, and ensure that public safety is not compromised.

To address prison overcrowding, lawmakers should consider a new  program called "Conditional Post-Conviction Release Bonding." This ALEC concept would allow for the early release of legislatively defined participants from prison-primarily non-violent and juvenile offenders-but require that they post a bond. The bond would be revoked if they did not meet all the requirements of the program.

ALEC drafted model legislation for public transportation.