Posted on 06/30/2009 11:26:45 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Time is running out for the legislatures in Arizona, California, Indiana, Mississippi and Pennsylvania to solve budget gaps.
Reporting from Indianapolis and Denver -- The last time Indiana missed its deadline for passing a budget and had to shut down the government was during the Civil War.
But on Monday, as lawmakers raced to hammer out an agreement over school funding, state agencies began preparing 31,000 workers to be temporarily out of a job. Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels has warned residents that most of the state's services -- including its parks, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and state-regulated casinos -- would be shuttered unless a budget is passed today.
Indiana is one of five states -- along with Arizona, California, Mississippi and Pennsylvania -- bracing for possible shutdowns this week as time runs out for lawmakers to close billion-dollar gaps in their fiscal 2010 budgets.
Of the 46 states whose fiscal year ends today, 32 did not have budgets passed and approved by their governors as of Monday afternoon, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Although the majority of those are expected to pass eleventh-hour budgets, the fiscal futures of a handful remain uncertain, said Todd Haggerty, an NCSL research analyst.
"It's a lot of states that are coming down to the wire," Haggerty said. "It's far more than we've seen in the past, and it's because of the state of the economy."
"What's different now is that the recession has eroded tax revenues across the country," Haggerty said. Collectively, he said, states are wrestling with budget deficits totaling $121 billion.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Indiana is one of the few states that cannot run in the red. Therefore the budget must be realistic and not “pie in the sky”. They have till midnight and may even pass a partial budget, but I’ve no fear that under our “R” conservative leadership they will get er done.
I was just going to post this story:
Lawmakers Reach Tentative Deal On Budget
http://www.theindychannel.com/politics/19901044/detail.html
If states raise taxes to cover the deficit, they will increase revenues of other states since people will move there. These idiots don’t get it.
not to worry,
comrade obama will print more money.
/s
And of course, New York, New Jersey, and Michigan aren’t mentioned in this list, but they also face serious trouble.
NY is estimating a 35% decrease in sales tax revenue from last year. Shows you how well they budget.
Already they’re running the “woe-is-me” testimonials from gov’t employees. “How will we feed our families?” they whine, oblivious to the irony that they’re feeding their families at my families’ expense.
an annual game of Chicken that Ed Rendell plays with conservatives from the central part of PA
Post it to it’s own thread...and have earthdweller ping the Hoosiers.
From you link:
The Republican-controlled state Board of Finance was prepared to meet in an emergency session Wednesday to potentially transfer hundreds of millions of dollars to keep essential services such as prisons and state police running if a new budget or temporary funding measure was not enacted on time.
The Daniels’ administration also has said unemployment benefits, child support payments and welfare assistance would continue to be rendered for those already eligible. But Daniels has said state parks would close, as would Bureau of Motor Vehicles branches and most state offices; most of the state’s 30,900 full-time employees would be furloughed.
Remember, when a virus infected cell dies it spreads its corrupted DNA to neighboring healthy cells. Just a warning to other states with relatively healthy economies.
Here’s an idea - those states can shrink the size of the government, starting with no social services to non-citizens. A quick proof of citizenship should be enough to enable that.
good luck with that with the new Senate Dimocrap majority.
we’ll probably have illegals running for office soon.
Apparently the vote buyers are going to be in for a somewhat lean winter!
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