Among the changes McDonnell said he is considering are lowering the overall sales and use tax and expanding it to cover services as varied as car repair, tax preparation and pedicures now exempt from the tax. The sales tax is paid now only on retail merchandise.

The so-called short session is designed to tweak the two-year state budget approved in 2011

Gov. Christie's pension reform did little to stop the age-old New Jersey practice of double-dipping, in which employees "retire," start collecting a pension, and then are rehired, often the next day.  A criminal investigation is under way involving his running mate, New Jersey Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno.

Gov. Jerry Brown said that California's shortfall was now projected to be $16 billion, up from $9.2 billion in January. Mr. Brown said that he would propose a revised budget on Monday to deal with it.

The state's colleges and universities will have to take at least $200 million in additional budget cuts based on the way the state budget bill is now structured, higher education officials said.

The ball is now in the House's court after the state Senate this past week passed a budget that spends considerably more than what Governor Corbett has proposed.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker's administration said that its new revenue projections show the state will finish the 2011-2013 budget years with a surplus rather than the deficit predicted earlier this year.

The Illinois State Senate approved legislation that would require retired state workers to pick up more of the costs of their health insurance.

Gov. Bev Perdue will ask legislators to spend an additional $562 million on K-12 schools and increase the state sales tax in the $20.9 billion budget she plans to release Thursday.

South Carolina's Senate Finance Committee unanimously advanced a budget that provides higher raises to state workers, pays for long-deferred maintenance at all public colleges, and spends more money on special needs students.

The House remains at a standstill as a bloc of Republican representatives is calling for at least $250 million in cuts before they will consider next year's budget. The cuts, contained in two proposals presented to Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration, call for cuts across a series of departments as well as possible furloughs or decreases to state contracts.

The Pennsylvania Senate on Wednesday passed a $27.7 billion spending plan that would erase many cuts proposed by Gov. Tom Corbett, setting the stage for negotiations over the state budget that must be in place by July 1.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel took his case for pension reform directly to rank-and-file members whose contributions he wants to raise and whose retirement benefits he's proposing to cut.

Gov. Jerry Brown is targeting a new part of the budget to close a widening deficit by seeking to reduce state worker costs in his revised spending plan, according to sources with knowledge of his plans.

The budget needs another vote in each chamber, but lawmakers appear to be on track to meet Friday's constitutional deadline.

Spending from the Education Trust Fund next year would drop as much as $141 million, 2.5 percent, compared to this year.

Gov. Corbett said that despite a recent uptick in revenue, his administration will think long and hard before rushing to restore steep cuts proposed in next year's state budget.

SBS President Bob Williams strongly encourages you to read "GASB Won't Let Me" - A False Objection to Public Pension Reform, a report released by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation found here. The report explains that switching to a defined contribution pension system does not raise costs. Bob's statement applauding the report can be found here.

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.

Pension reform is a separate issue from amortization. These two issues have been conflated by those invoking the GASB proviso for closed DB plans, but this has only sown confusion. This is clearly demonstrated when the reform is structured with amortization payments on total payroll. In this way, the growth in the base for amortization payments is unaffected by the reform, so there is no policy reason for changing the schedule of these payments. The funding schedule for amortization is a red herring, irrelevant to the fundamental policy decision for pension reform. Amortization pays for past debts; pension reform lays a path toward a responsible future.