California plans to start cutting Medi-Cal payments. The state sought federal permission to reduce the amount of money it gives out to cover health care for the state’s low income residents. Under the terms of the plan the state will make a 10% cut in the amount of reimbursements it pays out, a move which [...]
Louisiana has lost an $80 million rural broadband grant for failing to keep their broadband expansion project on track. The Commerce Department rescinded the grant stating that the project administrators were repeatedly unresponsive to requests for information and updates on where the project stood. Senator Mary Landrieu has said that her state missed an opportunity, [...]
Governor Dannel P. Malloy and business leaders from throughout Connecticut have partnered to launch Startup Connecticut, a new initiative to support entrepreneurship throughout the state. Startup Connecticut is the latest in a national effort coordinated by the Startup America Partnership to help small businesses create jobs.
States may be able to opt-out of expanding Medicaid coverage if two Senators have their way. Senators Lindsey Graham and John Barrasso introduced a bill last week designed to provide ‘Medicaid flexibility,’ for states. The Senators argue that Medicaid is a drag on state budgets and plans to expand the program under federal health care [...]
According to census data, cash strapped state governments are firing public employees and replacing them with part-timers at an increased rate. Census numbers show that nationwide, state governments have lost over 200,000 public employees leaving much of the work to be done by part time employees. Many states are grappling with the cost of pensions [...]
Illinois is utilizing more federal funds to keep unemployed and underemployed residents in their homes. Approximately 15,000 homeowners in the state are under the threat of foreclosure due to employment conditions and the Governor is using $345 million in federal funds to help them cover their mortgage payments. The program gives 10-year low cost loans [...]
Despite a public pledge stating that public workers will not be laid off to close budget gaps, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn is moving to layoff some 1,900 state workers citing budget shortfalls. The move has reignited a bitter dispute between the Governor and the state workers union. The Governor says that job cuts are the [...]
New Orleans and San Francisco are looking at ways to increase transparency. New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, announced yesterday that the city will be implementing two new measures BottomLineStat and ReqtoCheckStat designed to increase budget transparency and improve the efficiency of the city’s contracting system. San Francisco Board of Supervisors President David Chiu also announced [...]
The California Assembly budget committee has voted against making Assembly budgets public. In a 6-5 vote, the Assembly decided not to take up a proposal from Democratic Assemblyman Anthony Portantino which would require the Assembly to disclose its staff budget and expenditures to the public. The committee responsible for the budget has decided that they [...]
It is hard to find a time in recent history where the budget picture for state and local government looked as bleak as it does now. Faced with a multi-trillion dollar federal budget deficit, credit rating downgrade and shrinking revenues, state and local governments are forced to find ever more creative ways to provide services [...]
