New Budget Year Brings More Turmoil in States

With its IOUs and plans to close state offices three days a month, California gets all the attention as lawmakers fight to write a budget set off balance by a $26.3 billion deficit.

But the dozens of states that made spending cuts, tapped into reserves or relied on federal stimulus funds to patch together budgets that took effect this past week are hardly free from worry. Many of those spending plans are based on tax revenue projections that have been wrong throughout the recession — and may be unreliable again.

More miscalculations could bring a variety of consequences: deeper cuts to services such as health care and education; layoffs and furloughs of state employees; renewed consideration of...

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