The Williams Report
Budget
Alaska: Gov. Bill Walker aims to reduce state spending by 1.7 percent, eliminating over 200 positions.
Arizona: Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey released his proposed 2019 budget. The budget maintains current funding for higher education and seeks to expand K-12 education funding by $144 million. The budget would also increase borrowing for several capital projects.
California: Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed into law a $183.2-billion budget, a spending plan with significant increases in public school funding and a variety of other social programs.
Colorado: Colorado faces a choice few states experience: how to spend a $1 billion dollar revenue surplus. Currently, the House, Senate, and governor have competing proposals, most centered on transportation.
Connecticut: The state deficit continues to worsen.
Delaware: Gov. John Carney wants to increase the state operating budget by 3.5 percent next year. In addition to a $4.25 billion operating budget, Carney on Thursday proposed a $677.5 million capital budget for construction projects that includes $100 million in additional funding.
Florida: House Speaker Richard Corcoran rolled out a spending plan of $87.2 billion, similar in size to those proposed by the Senate and by Gov. Rick Scott.
Georgia: The $26 billion state budget proposed by Gov. Nathan Deal for the 2019 fiscal year starting July 1, 2018, represents a $1.03 billion increase in total state spending over the 2018 budget.
Idaho: Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra asked state budget writers to increase the public school budget 6.8 percent next year. If approved, Idaho’s total public school funding would increase by $114 million more than what lawmakers initially allocated, totaling $1.78 billion.
Illinois: Illinois’ ongoing inability to right its fiscal ship is compounding the problem. During the past budget crises, the state accrued $1 billion in late payment penalties.
Louisiana: Gov. John Bel Edwards unveiled a $25.3 billion operating budget that does not increase taxes. Gov. Edwards and Democrats argue that the cuts in the operating budget would be too harmful.
Massachusetts: Gov. Baker filed a $40.9 dollar billion budget, 2.6 percent more spending than the previous year.
Missouri: Gov. Eric Greitens has proposed a $28.7 billion dollar state budget for 2019, a roughly $200 million increase compared to the current year’s budget.
Nebraska: The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act may result in an additional $220 million for state government this year, according to the Department of Revenue.
New Mexico: A $6.3 billion budget plan that would increase New Mexico state spending passed the House Appropriations and Finance Committee. The plan would increase state spending by $249 million, 4.1 percent over the previous year.
New York: Gov. Andrew Cuomo this week proposed a series of new taxes and fees that his budget experts say will raise more than $1.035 billion in the next fiscal year.
Oklahoma: Despite budget challenges, the House issued raises for 14 positions, including some as high as 30.3 percent.
Oregon: The Oregon legislature projects a deficit this year between $200 and $300 million dollars.
Pennsylvania: Capital markets remain skeptical of Pennsylvania’s long-term outlook.
Tennessee: Gov. Bill Haslam outlines his budget priorities for the next fiscal year.
Vermont: Gov. Phil Scott aims to reduce education costs and therefore property taxes.
Virginia: The Senate Education and Health Committee rejected a proposed Medicaid expansion.
Washington: Gov. Jay Inslee signs a $4.3 billion dollar construction budget.
West Virginia: Gov. Jim Justice promised a 1 percent raise for state employees. However, legislators are skeptical that the proposed budget can cover the cost.
Wisconsin: Gov. Scott Walker plans to use the $385 million dollar state budget surplus to issue $100 dollar tax credits to parents.
Wyoming: In an effort to balance the state budget, 50 state employee positions will be eliminated over the next two years.
Pension
Arizona: The tragic loss of the Hotshots firefighters in 2013 changed the demographics of the plan beyond what pension managers accounted for in their assumptions. Now, the Senate aims to transfer $7.8 million to shore up the fund.
California: Gov. Jerry Brown plans to make an extra $6-billion payment to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, or CalPERS, taking the money from surplus state revenues.
Connecticut: Pension and healthcare costs derail transportation projects.
Florida: A bill introduced by the Florida state Senate would increase state contributions to the Florida Retirement System by $178.5 million per year.
Illinois: A group representing workers and retirees in the Illinois State Universities Retirement System suggests that Illinois should sell $107 billion of bonds to address its huge unfunded pension liability.
Iowa: Senate Republicans on Thursday proposed about $52 million in mid-year cuts to Iowa’s $7.2 billion state budget.
Kentucky: While Gov. Bevin faces challenges to pass pension reform, he also seeks to reform other post-employment benefits (OPEB), state employee retirement benefits other than pensions such as healthcare, life insurance, and dental care.
Maine: A proposed bill seeks additional restrictions on pension “double dipping” by state retirees.
Michigan: Gov. Rick Snyder calls for a tax plan that will save an average family of four in Michigan $34 annually on its state income taxes by 2021.
Missouri: The Missouri State Employee Retirement System continues to underperform relative to national benchmarks, leading to an increase in the annual required contribution.
New Hampshire: Proposed legislation would re-introduce a 15 percent contribution from the state into the New Hampshire Retirement System for municipal employees.
New Mexico: New Mexico lawmakers are proposing a pension-forfeiture law aimed at elected officials who are convicted or plead guilty to corruption charges.
New York: The New York State Common Retirement Fund continues to pursue a political agenda by divesting in carbon energy and investing in low-carbon companies, to the potential detriment of residents, employees, and retirees as explained in Keeping the Promise: Getting Politics out of Pensions.
Ohio: The Ohio Association of Public School Employees has filed a lawsuit to block a three-year cost of living freeze to retirement benefits
Pennsylvania: A bill to expand the criminal counts that would force public officials in Pennsylvania to forfeit their taxpayer-paid pension has the unanimous approval of the state Senate.
West Virginia: Lawmakers consider plan to reduce legislator pension spiking.