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Headlines
Rich States, Poor States, 6th Edition
This 6th edition of Rich States, Poor States contains invaluable insight into each of the 50 "laboratories of democracy." With solid empirical research and the latest data on state economies, the evidence is clear on which state tax and fiscal policies directly lead to more opportunities, more jobs, and more prosperity for all Americans.
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Headlines
Ex-Penn State president tops highest paid list
Presidents of public universities are taking home bigger paychecks, and a growing number are raking in more than $1 million.
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Headlines
What if the Internet Sales Tax Doesn't Make it Through Congress?
Some states are so anxious for the anticipated revenues they've already committed the money to various projects.
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Headlines
Williams: Marketplace Fairness Act and Internet taxes are not the answers to state budget problems
Bob Williams: Hoping for more federal stimulus or hoping the feds will allow taxes on the Internet will not solve the budget crises the states currently face. The problem is spending, not revenue.
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Headlines
State Pension Litigation Update, May 2013
In attempts to reign in the costs of pensions, state lawmakers legislate pension reform. Challengers to those reforms often bring suit, alleging violations of state law, contracts, and the Constitution.
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Budget timeframe: Annual
Fiscal Year begins: July 1
Find the current state budget here.
Find the legislative session calendar here.
Find the current legislative leaders here.
Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter
Office of the Governor
PO Box 83720
Boise, ID 83720-0034
Phone: (208) 334-2100
Fax: (208) 334-2175
http://gov.idaho.gov/
Jani Revier, Administrator
Division of Financial Management
P.O. Box 83720
Boise, ID 83720-0032
Phone (208) 334-3900
Fax: (208) 334-2438
http://www2.state.id.us/dfm/index.html
jani.revier@dfm.idaho.gov
Want a more robust, long-term look at your state's fiscal health, beyond the budget? There are two parts: Click here for the FY2011 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) compiled by the state government, and click here for information on the state's pension liabilities.
Idaho is required to pass a "balanced budget." Article 7, Section 11 of the 1890 Constitution, entitled "Expenditure Not Exceed Appropriation," states no appropriation shall be made that exceeds the total revenue, unless the legislature causes for that expenditure to be paid within the fiscal year. Even with this provision in place, Idaho reported budget deficits in two of the three years studied. As with most states, an exception is given for the need to suppress insurrection, defend the state or assist the nation in time of war. Idaho law forbids the carrying over of a deficit from one year to the next.
Governmental funds include the General fund, special revenue funds, permanent funds and a capital projects fund. The state budgets on a cash basis. The State reports 5 major governmental funds: the General, Health and Welfare, Transportation, Public School Endowment, and Pooled Endowment Funds. Idaho budgets all of the major funds in addition to several non-major funds. From the information presented in the CAFR it seems as though most, if not all, of the governmental funds are budgeted. Although some information is missing from the Budgetary Comparison Schedules (beginning and ending balances), the information is presented efficiently (with inclusion of "Total" columns). [from the Institute for Truth in Accounting]
Find the state's bond ratings here.
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K-12 Education :
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HEADLINES: Idaho
Breaking down the state budget
Idaho lawmakers have set the 2014 state budget. It's the third highest budget in state history.
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RESEARCH
The School Staffing Surge: Decades of Employment Growth in America's Public Schools, Part II
Public schools grew staffing at a rate four times faster than the increase in students over that time period. Of those personnel, teachers' numbers increased 252 percent, while administrators and other non-teaching staff experienced growth of 702 percent, more than seven times the increase in students.
- View All Idaho articles
Unions :
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HEADLINES
Right To Work states still have less debt
Michigan, home to unions like the United Auto Workers, will become the 24th 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.
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HEADLINES
Huge government pension gap sparks backlash
Pensions and other retirement benefits have become a multi-trillion-dollar black hole for state and local government budgets.
- View All Idaho articles
Pensions :
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HEADLINES
GAO finds growing state, local fiscal gap with Medicaid to blame
Closing the gap to achieve fiscal balance over 50 years will require "action to be taken today and maintained for each year equivalent to a 14.2 percent reduction in the state and local government sector's current expenditures."
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HEADLINES
State Pension Litigation Update, May 2013
In attempts to reign in the costs of pensions, state lawmakers legislate pension reform. Challengers to those reforms often bring suit, alleging violations of state law, contracts, and the Constitution.
- View All Idaho articles
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Solutions:
How Reality-Based Budgeting Can Permanently Resolve State Budget Gaps
State Budget Solutions recommends that state legislators take action in 2013 to resolve the serious state financial crises by changing their focus from inputs to outcomes by redesigning budgets from the ground up based on priorities and performance.
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Solutions:
How to Prevent Future Pension Crises
The time for state and local governments to offer defined contribution retirement plans that protect both taxpayer dollars and public employee retirement security is now.
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Solutions:
State Lawmaker’s Guide to Evaluating Medicaid Expansion Projections
Supporters of Obamacare claim that expanding Medicaid will entail little to no cost to state governments, since the federal government will fund the vast majority of the additional costs. Indeed, some analyses project states achieving savings from adopting the expansion. However, state lawmakers should be wary of accepting such analyses at face value.
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Solutions:
Medicaid Is Broken—Let the States Fix It
Block-granting Medicaid is the best way to deliver better, cost-effective care to the most vulnerable Americans.
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Solutions:
The Case for Reform: Prisons
Prisons are supremely important, but they are also a supremely expensive government program, and thus prison systems must be held to the highest standards of accountability.
- View All Solutions
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State Pension Litigation Update, May 2013
In attempts to reign in the costs of pensions, state lawmakers legislate pension reform. Challengers to those reforms often bring suit, alleging violations of state law, contracts, and the Constitution.
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GAO finds growing state, local fiscal gap with Medicaid to blame
Closing the gap to achieve fiscal balance over 50 years will require "action to be taken today and maintained for each year equivalent to a 14.2 percent reduction in the state and local government sector's current expenditures."
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In Congress, a Bill Seeks to Tie Municipal Borrowing Power to Public Pension Disclosure
Representatives from California and two other states introduced a bill in Congress on Thursday that would strip states and cities of their right to issue tax-exempt bonds unless they first disclosed the true cost of their pension plans and whether they could pay it.
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States move along different roads to tackle underfunding dilemma
More states are enacting measures to help improve the solvency of their public pension funds as funding ratios remain low.
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GASB changes to boost pressure for pension reform, Fitch report says
Impending changes in Governmental Accounting Standards Board standards in 2014 and 2015 should increase public pressure on decision-makers to reform state and local government pension plans, according to a report from Fitch Ratings.
- View All Pensions
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BLOG: Higher Education, Spending
Who is the highest paid state employee in your state?
Time to add a new diagram to the state budget and policy playbook--your state's highest paid employee is probably a football or basketball coach.
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BLOG: Medicaid
Medicaid expansion won't yield quality health care
The bombshell Oregon Medicaid study released this week should give all states pause as they consider plans to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. States must now ask what the point of Medicaid is in the first place.
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BLOG: Budget Gimmicks, Budget Processes and Systems, Measures to Balance Budgets, Spending, State Debt
Let's Put Privatizing Municipal Services Back on the Table
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OPINION: Healthcare
Governor Otter urges Legislature to ignore the state's Health Freedom Act
Gov. Butch Otter is pressing Idaho legislators to create an Idaho Health Exchange. He is doing so despite previously issuing an Executive Order to the contrary and the many drawbacks to doing so. The governor's request would be taxpayer funded, but it also comes at the expense of state sovereignty.
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BLOG: Unions
Airing Out the Smoke-filled Rooms: Bringing Transparency to Public Union Collective Bargaining
To help prevent union strong-arming that fleeces taxpayers, we should know precisely what public union officials are demanding and what government employers are offering in any collective negotiation about employment terms and conditions.
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