Gov. Nathan Deal cautioned lawmakers Tuesday not to anticipate funds for many new initiatives in the state budget they'll consider when they convene in January.

More than 2,000 vacant positions would be eliminated under a $5.52-billion budget proposal adopted Tuesday by the Joint Legislative Budget Committee.

Two controversial state pension measures shot down by the Louisiana Legislature last session are poised to make a comeback, tied this time to a proposal to offer automatic cost-of-living adjustments for some state workers after they retire.

The Michigan Legislature gave final approval Tuesday to a bitterly contested right-to-work plan limiting the power of unions.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead is telling state lawmakers that if they won't approve a 10-cent a gallon fuel tax hike to help pay for state highways they should dip into revenues from state energy production to help cover the tab.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn said Monday that sweeping pension reform is currently the most pressing topic on the state's political agenda, continuing his pressure on legislators to enact changes before the end of the current legislative session.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius warns governors that the federal government will not pay for limited coverage of low-income residents.

A growing chorus of credible voices across the political spectrum confirms that government employees' defined benefit pensions are inherently flawed, and cannot survive without drastic fundamental reform. States and municipalities need to enact reality-based solutions, and they need to do it now. Officials need to freeze the worst plans immediately and impose defined contribution, cash balance or hybrid plans.

Michigan, home to unions like the United Auto Workers, will become the 24^th state to protect individual workers' rights through Right To Work legislation, giving workers the freedom to choose whether or not they wish to belong to an organized labor union. The other 23 states have lower debt than those without such laws.

Gov. Sam Brownback won't rule out the possibility of canceling a promised decrease in Kansas' sales tax as an option for balancing the state budget next year, even though legislators in both parties are resisting the idea.