There are always stumbling blocks and areas of disagreement that have to be resolved as the budget process advances. This year in Michigan, those topics include funding for roads, health care and education -- among other topics.

The S.C. Retirement Investment Commission, which manages the state's pension fund for public-sector workers, sued state Treasurer Curtis Loftis on Thursday.

A bill that would cut public worker pensions by nearly half a billion dollars over the next two years won narrow approval by the Oregon Senate despite objections that it fails to tame the state's increasingly costly retirement program.

The Senate unanimously approved a proposed $74.3 billion budget Wednesday that includes 3 percent pay raises for state employees, $70 million for Everglades restoration and $1.2 billion more in public school funding.

Massachusetts House leaders unveiled their budget for fiscal 2014, incorporating $500 million in tax hikes into a $33.8 billion spending plan that is 3.88 percent higher than last year's state budget.

Overall, the Indiana Senate budget would spend $29.5 billion over the two years and has reserves at the end of fiscal year 2015 of $1.5 billion.

Whether the New York state spending plan cuts or increases taxes has been the subject of interpretation over the past two weeks, with different answers coming from all sides of the political spectrum.

Missouri schools appear likely to get a 2 percent funding increase next year as a result of a decision Tuesday by a Senate budget panel.

The Indiana Senate has included an expansion of Medicaid through the Healthy Indiana Plan in the state budget.

The Republican-led chamber's answer to GOP Gov. John Kasich's spending blueprint spends about $2 billion less while retaining a 7 percent permanent income-tax reduction statewide and removing tax increases on professional services and drilling.