The bill is the first of a handful expected to be introduced since Republican leaders in the House rejected the proposed Medicaid expansion Gov. John Kasich included in his two-year budget proposal.

Minnesota's move to raise $2.1 billion in new taxes, largely from the wealthy, to fund government programs puts it among a handful of states controlled by Democrats that are adopting more liberal fiscal policies at a time when many Republican-dominated statehouses are pushing to cut taxes.

It wasn't intended as a long-term investment, but the state Employees' Retirement System looks like it will own two Maui golf courses for more than a decade after a recent bid from a buyer fell through.

Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to lessen regulation of rent-to-own stores was yanked from his budget bill Thursday in a bipartisan vote by the Legislature's budget committee.

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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.

Republicans turned back several Democratic amendments, some of which were designed to criticize a yet-detailed GOP plan to reduce taxes by more than $750 million over two years.

Senate Democrats want to direct $508 million more to Ohio schools over the next two years by eliminating part of a GOP-proposed tax cut for upper-income Ohioans.

The Chicago-based Civic Federation said Tuesday the funding gap for 10 Chicago-area public pension systems widened by 16.7 percent to $32 billion in fiscal 2011 from the year, warning of service cuts or tax hikes to bridge the gap.

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 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.

Lawmakers still haven't been able to pass a state budget, even though they've already shaken hands on the deal. The hold up is with Senate Joint Resolution One which would ask voters to approve the creation of a state fund dedicated to water infrastructure projects.

Since South Carolina Treasurer Curtis Loftis took office more than two years ago and has made it his mission to overhaul the state investment commission that oversees the state's pension fund.

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.

According to the report, it's unreasonable for public pension plans to assume an 8-percent rate of return when many economists project lower returns in the future.

"There's nothing more that government can do to help jobs and economic growth than for the Legislature to put a comprehensive public pension bill on my desk by the end of this month," Gov. Pat Quinn said.

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.

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.

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.

"What we're looking for is that they followed the established budget processes, that the things that were funded were subject to public scrutiny," said TaxWatch's Robert Weissert.