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.

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.

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.

Dissatisfied with state pension reforms enacted last year that affect 1.8 million current and former government workers, Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel says without more changes "there will be nothing left at the end of the rainbow" when public employees retire.

Leaders in the Republican-controlled Ohio Senate said that they won't consider Gov. John Kasich's proposed expansion of Medicaid as part of the state budget. Instead, senators will study Medicaid reforms separately.

The Ohio State Senate will spend a lot of time poring over hundreds of smaller policy proposals shoved into the 4,509-page budget bill.

Ohio House Republicans aren't moving forward with a Medicaid expansion, but they kept the door open.

A state budget that gives schools half the innovation money sought by the governor, scraps his plans to expand Medicaid and sends Planned Parenthood to the back of the line for public family planning dollars is expected to advance a step in the Ohio House.

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.

The buzz in Columbus is that Kasich's school funding plan - under construction over the past two years -- will be dumped by his fellow Republicans in control of the legislature when a slew of budget amendments are unveiled on Tuesday.

Advocating for collective bargaining reforms because unless base compensation adjustmentst happen, taxes will have to go up.

Ohio would be well advised to give itself more cushioning that it currently has for economic hardship.  After all, when it rains, it often times pours. It's much better to have an umbrella on hand than to stand by and get soaked.

Schools should receive revenue in the same way that the district receives revenue, on a per-pupil basis reflecting the enrollment at a school and the individual characteristics of students at each school.

Dissatisfied with state pension reforms enacted last year that affect 1.8 million current and former government workers, Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel says without more changes "there will be nothing left at the end of the rainbow" when public employees retire.

Of the highest-paid pension executives in those states last year, all but two worked at the Texas fund or the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio, data show.

Politicians evade balanced budget requirements and debt limits by underfunding public pensions, covertly passing the financial burden onto future taxpayers. Get the details here.

To ensure that the pension systems can meet the state requirement that their unfunded liabilities be paid off within 30 years, the changes increase employee contributions, compute new final average salaries, require longer service and reduce cost-of-living adjustments.

The Ohio Senate concurred today with overwhelming bipartisan support to House changes regarding five landmark pension reform bills that strengthen and protect the retirement benefits for nearly 1.8 million Ohioans.

The five bills are designed so the plans can pay off their unfunded liabilities within 30 years, as required by state law.

Legislative leaders said the changes, while unpopular among some workers, are needed to make sure members get the benefits they deserve.

A team of actuaries recommended an increase to age 57 from the current 52 for safety forces and 67 from 62 for others in a report presented to the Ohio Retirement Study Council and the Ohio House's Health and Aging Subcommittee on Retirement and Pensions.

The state Senate has passed a package of bills aimed at shoring up the funds, but House leaders delayed acting on the measures as they awaited a study released earlier in July.

Reforms passed in the Senate that the House will now consider include increased employee contributions, increased number of work years it would take for some employees to be eligible for retirement and a new set of guidelines for cost-of-living adjustments.

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.

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. 

Citizens need to know where their dollars are being spent and they need to know where their elected representatives stand on a wide range of policy issues. Including dozens of policy issues that are only tangentially related to the budget, if at all, impedes both those goals.

Cultural issues work their way into state budget processes frequently. Without commenting on their objective validity, they more often than not distract elected officials and citizens alike from the primary focus of the budget process.

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.

And it isn’t just individuals who must reconfigure budgets, the states are looking at smaller “paychecks” as well.

Just as state spending should identify performance outcomes, tax preferences should as well.

State and local politicians may think they can relax as third quarter tax revenues showed 12 consecutive quarters of growth year over year. But that would be a mistake in light of pension investments that again failed to erase any of more than $5 trillion owed to government workers.

This map looks at state government budgets - specifically, how much of each state's budget comes from the federal government. Mississippi tops the list with 49% of its general revenue coming from Washington; Alaska, by contrast, gets only 24% of its general revenue from the feds.

A National Insistute on Retirement Security brief on proposals to freeze local and state defined benefit pension plans in a shift to defined contribution plans that limit taxpayer risk ignores is what protections are needed against endemic public pension corruption and offers no explanation of who is going to sacrifice to pay this massive hidden debt.

The "State of the States" report released this week puts hidden state and local debt at $7.3 trillion, stating: "States do not account to citizens in ways that are transparent, timely or accessible." If state and local governments fail to act decisively now, cities, towns and counties will go bankrupt, and states could fall beyond a fiscal event horizon into perpetual debt.

The U.S. Census Bureau today released its Annual Survey of State Government Finances for 2011, and it shows the "revenue crisis" politicians have been blaming on the Great Recession is false.

From Fiscal Years 2007 through 2011, politicians and government pension fund managers blew all the money taxpayers and government workers contributed. All of the $611 billion that was supposed to be invested is gone. So is the $609 billion earned on investments. According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau Annual Survey of Public Pensions: State-and-Locally-Administered Defined Benefit Data, more than $1.22 trillion came in to the pension plans and more than $1.29 trillion went out instead of growing to pay guaranteed future benefits. Those promised benefits grew by about $1 trillion over the same period. 

Members of a state and municipal workers organization recently got a dose of reality on pension reform at a gathering of public workers who have benefited from defined contribution plans for 40 years. A key fact from the presentations was stated by Ken Parker, city manager of Port Orange, Florida: "Note: the only way a governmental entity can truly fix its cost related to retirement is to change from a Defined Benefit Plan and adopt a Defined Contribution Plan."

Of all accounting frauds state leaders commit to push devastating costs onto future generations, the worst is deluding citizens about the security of so-called catastrophe insurance funds. Hurricane Sandy and a tsunami scare in Hawaii at the same time should be warning enough for governors to start paying the premiums.

When a "premier global consulting and actuarial" firm proves in its first Public Pension Funding study that those government pensions are doomed, it is past time for action. Milliman's study showing a 33 percent increase in pension debt over official numbers from a minute change in accounting should be enough to spur reform.

No matter what the Government Accounting Standards Board says or how grossly state and local politicians pervert new guidelines to continue looting workers' pension funds, reality will triumph when the real reckoning comes. Just ask the National Association of Bond Lawyers, municipal bond rating agencies and actuaries who do the calculations.

Anyone interested in the state and local government pension crisis - and all Americans should pay attention to this hidden $4.6 trillion hidden black hole in our economy - must read Alicia H. Munnell's new book, "State and Local Pensions: What now?" It is the best primer on this complex issue except for one missing factor: Reality.

When a widely recognized world pension expert refers to current defined benefit and defined contribution plans as "dysfunctional," it is time for politicians to stop their lying and denying that this fiscal catastrophe is spiraling out of control.

When State Budget Solutions started looking at real total state debt, just the staggering size of the numbers alone did not tell the whole story. So how to get a fix on the real burden taxpayers must bear in each state? Per capita is the usual way. But even that does not tell the whole story.

The worst news is that earnings on investments were a negative $14.2 billion, a $66 billion decline from the same quarter last year. These pension funds paid out $53.4 billion in the second quarter, putting a year-over-year hole of at least $68 billion in capacity to pay future benefits.

If current state and municipal workers and retirees refuse to accept their fair share of sacrifice on retirement benefits, the looming taxpayer backlash will sweep away a century of progress. Workers must act voluntarily now because politics and law never will resolve this crisis before the money runs out, and legal protections they are counting on may be as false as politicians' promises.

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley told Democratic faithful gathered at the national convention Tuesday that "Democratic governors are balancing budgets," when he knows that is a lie, especially in the Old Line State. Twenty Democratic governors account for about 53 percent of total state debt, according to a study released last week by State Budget Solutions.

Vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie put on cheery faces for the faithful this week at the Republic National convention, but both know the catastrophe states are hurtling toward because of hidden debt.

They just keep on letting politicians pick their pockets. Latest official public pension data - the most optimistic available -- compiled by Census show investments administered by states fell short more than $1.2 trillion even by their own trick accounting from Fiscal Year 2007 through 2011. Yet managers scraped off at least $45 billion in "Other Payments" to enrich a handful of insiders.

"Unsustainable" is the word state officials heard from experts for the first time at their annual National Conference of State Legislatures gathering here, where one of four sessions on the pension crisis drew a standing-room only crowd of more than 300.

When U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois tried to fire up a ballroom full of state legislators here Tuesday morning, he used the phrase "states rights." It popped up a few other times as the National Conference of State Legislatures met to its annual "Build Strong States" summit. The only problem: There is no such thing as "states rights."

We're going to pay enough for 2,000 "Curiosity" Mars rover missions, but the money will produce no government services or benefits of any kind. Yet, nowhere does a state legislative directive on pensions approved Tuesday mention how states are going to pay this debt.

National Conference of State Legislatures members meeting here ended their first day with even more bad news about municipal bonds, debt interest that takes more than 20 cents of every dollar they spend each year and that pays for essential public works, among other things.

The word "taxpayer" appears only 14 times in 165 pages of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Report on the Municipal Securities Market released Tuesday. Only two of those mentions in the body of the report refer to looking out for our interests.

Question: When does 80 percent of something equal 100 percent? Answer: Never, except in the fantasy world of public pension accounting. The American Academy of Actuaries Tuesday sent a letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, puncturing that fantasy in a committee report he released six months ago.

Push past the spin. Most public workers covered by defined benefit pension plans - and taxpayers stuck with the tab - don't have to wait years to find out what's happening to their money. They can get quarterly reports from the Top 100 funds representing 89.4 percent of "financial activity."

If our states and municipalities were trauma victims, they would be bleeding out while doctors argued about injuries. Even as financial gurus Paul Volcker and Richard Ravitch studied the municipal and state fiscal crisis for a report released this week, public pension debt alone grew to an untreatable $4.6 trillion, according to analysis released Wednesday by economist Andrew Biggs for State Budget Solutions.

Anybody who doubts whether public pensions can push state and local governments beyond a fiscal event horizon into a black hole of perpetual debt should read an auditor's note in Montana's latest annual report: "The Unfunded Actuarial Accrued Liability amortization period is infinite ...."

It may be equally as worrisome to know that the Department of Labor is also engaging in the practice of publishing one set of rosier numbers, only to amend them to the real numbers days later, thereby avoiding dissemination of the worst numbers.

Public pensions just keep falling further and further behind. In fact, they have fallen so far they never can get up again. The local and state pension crisis got at least $300 billion worse in the first quarter of this year compared to 2011, according to analysis of latest data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. That added at least $1.5 trillion to the shortfall -- calculated at $800 billion to more than $4 trillion as of 2010 -- future taxpayers must make up on top of all other taxes and rate hikes.

Despite the obvious need for maintaining these funds, many state lawmakers deplete or insufficiently fund the reserves to cover costs elsewhere, leaving constituents to fend for themselves during bouts of extreme weather.

Now, 70 percent equals 100 percent. The people crashing municipal and state pension plans into a bottomless fiscal abyss just released a "study" they claim finds them "solidly funded" despite irredeemable losses in the recession and lagging growth since. They did it by lowering their standards. No problem, they expect taxpayers to make up the difference.

Maybe average Wisconsin voters didn't consciously know each household must pay $1,563 in extra taxes every year for the next 30 years just to fund public pension shortfalls. But they probably realized they don't have a pension anymore, even if they have jobs. And any lucky enough to have jobs know that before Scott Walker became governor, they were paying higher taxes while working harder and longer at lower pay with slashed benefits.

Gary Mohr, Director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, spoke about creating a culture of competition in corrections.

Politicians are forcing public pensions to take more risks with taxpayer money and public workers' retirements. Recent accounting reforms actually will make the crisis worse, according to a study just released by three economists. They call for "drastic reform." Congress actually has the power to impose something drastic now.

This all boils down to who gets to pick taxpayers' pockets first, public pensioners or municipal bond investors? More people are waking up to the hard reality that when it comes to state and local government, somebody has to lose money over the next few decades. The National Association of Bond Lawyers is worried enough about it to issue "Considerations" for advising clients who think they're getting safe investments.

Despite an organized campaign to stop public pension reform, reality is beginning to break through.  One recent report outlines a possible path to long-term solutions and another details the necessity of states and municipalities finding their own way because federal bailout is impossible.  And Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel released a plan that could have been based on both reports.

Hey, young public employees, what are you going to do when your pension checks bounce after you paid in for decades? That is what will happen in many - maybe all - states and municipalities sooner or later if they do not reform right now. If you want to see the future, just look at Illinois. One citizen there did, and came up with a real reform plan that might work.

Public employees should take their pension money now and run to avoid risk of getting reduced benefits - or nothing - in the future. It's the best deal for them and for taxpayers. A growing chorus of credible voices including the Government Accountability Office, a Federal Reserve bank and now the Harvard Kennedy School Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government confirm state and local government finances are "spiraling out of control" and even draconian reforms only make it "more likely" that future benefits will paid in full.

Hey, young public employees, what are you going to do when your pension checks bounce after you paid in for decades? That is what will happen in many - maybe all - states and municipalities sooner or later if they do not reform right now. If you want to see the future, just look at Illinois. One citizen there did, and came up with a real reform plan that might work.

This is what it sounds like when the Federal Reserve Bank screams: "Much has been written about the various headwinds restraining economic activity over the near term. However, our economy also has other headwinds to confront over the medium- to-longer-term. ... the finances of some state and local governments are also under stress and in need of serious adjustments."  - Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Sandra Pianalto

A string of recent high profile public official corruption cases have brought the topic of pension forfeiture to the debate roundtable.

Hordes of voters across ten states will head to the polls on Tuesday, March 6 to vote in this year’s Presidential primary nominating contests. Voters throughout Ohio, though, will once again find their ballots occupied by a slew of school district funding proposals.

Ohioans deserve to know where and how their tax dollars are being spent, as well as the burden the pension system is placing on the state budget and taxpayers.

Movement toward school choice is a good thing; school choice helps out struggling state budgets as well as struggling student test scores.

Just a week after Ohio voters overturned their state's collective bargaining law, things are heating up once again in Wisconsin over that state's similar reform bill.

On November 8, voters in Ohio overwhelmingly repealed the collective bargaining reforms that were passed by the Legislature earlier this year.  Repealing this reform is bad news for both government employees and taxpayers.  Reality is not negotiable.

The size of the Ohio state government continues to grow smaller again. According to the Columbus Dispatch, employment throughout the state government fell from Aug. 2010 to Aug. 2011 by 2,958 full-time workers, to 56,875, about a 5 percent drop. When Gov. John Kasich took office in January, he directed the state government to become more efficient due to less tax income and a close to $8 billion dollar budget shortfall.

Not only will agricultural subsidies legislation disproportionately affect the budgets of Heartland states, it also may play a more influential role in the upcoming Presidential election than a cursory count of electoral votes and voting trends indicate. 

Often referred to as the "Death Tax," the federal government imposes a tax on the estate of deceased individuals regardless of the means of transfer. Many states initially jumped on the bandwagon and began taxing "unrealized" wealth, but more recently, some states are turning their backs on estate taxation or tweaking it in next coming years.

Unions from California to Pennsylvania organized events to protest state budget cuts and rally for jobs in what was a very busy week full of union activity around the country.

Lawmakers in Wisconsin, Ohio and elsewhere have made headlines in the last two months for their bold steps to curtail bargaining rights and benefits for public sector unions. Now, however, supporters of public unions are pushing back; significant efforts to repeal recent legislation are already in the works.

Ohio's new collective bargaining law contains many provisions that reshape the landscape in the Buckeye State.

With pension liabilities and health care benefits out of control and unions asking for more, states are finally taking action. Here's a look at some of the effort-within and beyond Wisconsin-that are underway.

Someone should tell the unions (in Wisconsin, at least) that there is a new sheriff in town.  And he's not afraid to call in the National Guard to quell unrest among state employees.