State Budgets Rebound
Money will be the top issue again in state legislatures next year. But as state finances improve, lawmakers will tackle many issues that have been ignored during three years of budget problems.
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Lawmakers say action on major issues such as tax reform and education financing will be avoided in most states because 2004 is an election year. But smaller issues — workers' compensation, foster care, pharmaceutical prices, high heating bills — will get more attention now that states' financial problems have eased.
State spending rose 4.6% in 2002 while revenue increased only 3%; that forced states to borrow billions of dollars to balance their budgets. But legislators clamped down in 2003. Spending rose only 1.3% in the first nine months of the year while revenue increased 1.5%.
The fiscal restraint is paying dividends. For the first time in three years, most legislatures won't have to plug holes in existing budgets this year. Instead, they will focus on next year's budgets, which take effect July 1 in 46 states.
Get the rest of the story from USA Today.
Matt's Chat
Liberals tried to pin state budget problems on the Bush administration like they did the recession. Now that things are turning around in the states, can the Bush administration now take credit for it? Will the media give him credit for it? Will liberals?Mark's Remarks
Let me answer t hose questions for you: no, no and no. The liberals will give no one credit but themselves, however, they will assign blame to anyone but themselves. They are like little children, spoiled rotten, who see the world as a plaything. They have no idea about responsibility, and no aim other than self-gratification.
The tax REFUNDS worked, people. The tax credits worked! It galvanized the economy. Dims and Libs, guess what? You are on the wrong side of history....AGAIN!
