Retiree Health Care Costs
Illinois Lurches Forward, One Budget Crisis at a Time
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn (AP) CHICAGO — Every time it seems Illinois might be pulling out of its budgetary tailspin, a new crisis hits. The latest one, which Democratic Governor Pat Quinn wants lawmakers to address during a special legislative session Friday (August 17), is the state’s ballooning annual pension payment. Those payments have become […]
Do States Control Their Fiscal Destiny? Not as Much as They May Think.
California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas elected five very different governors last fall, but they all agreed on one thing: their capacity to solve their states’ problems. “Once we take the right steps,” Florida’s Rick Scott said in his inaugural address, “I am absolutely convinced that Florida will become the most exciting place in […]
States Tackling Public Employee Retirement Benefits in 2010
He has been on the job for only a month, but already Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey has done all states a favor by elevating the crisis facing public pension systems across the country. While other governors were declaring snow emergencies last week, Christie proclaimed New Jersey a financial disaster area-with good reason. He […]
Summary of the Michigan State of the State Address
Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) urged state lawmakers in her state of the state address Feb. 3 to fix a budget process that has twice in the last three years shut down Michigan government. The two impasses – last year and in 2007 – lasted just a few hours, but Granholm attacked the process […]
Stimulus to Ease, Not Fix, State Budget Woes
Exactly how much each state will get from the billion economic package that President Obama is expected to sign shortly will vary, but the infusion of federal dollars still won’t plug the gaping holes in many state budgets. By some estimates, the deal, once President Obama signs it, could mean billion for California, which sounds […]
State Workers Retirement Reached All-Time High Before Attacks
State pension funds reached at an all-time high in 2000, but that was before the economic aftershocks of Sept. 11. Investment holdings of state government employee retirement systems reached .8 trillion last year, up from .6 trillion in 1999, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, however, some state […]