In a letter to Congress yesterday, the National Governors Association (NGA) requested that federal officials follow a handful of broad “principles” in reducing the state-federal deficit. The letter comes amid rising concerns from some Congressional leaders that states are in danger of needing bailouts or initiating bankruptcy procedures. According to the NGA, twenty-nine new governors [...]
Last week, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez invited the public to submit ideas on how to cut waste and reduce the size of government. Gov. Martinez’s office set up a dedicated email account, CutWasteTips@state.nm.us, for residents to make budget suggestions.
In an announcement yesterday, New Hampshire Governor John Lynch named Bill Rogers as commissioner of the state’s Department of Information Technology. According to a statement by the governor, Mr. Rogers brings with him over 30 years of information technology experience from the private sector. “Bill Rogers has the innovation, technical expertise and leadership abilities to [...]
In this, the first of two pieces on the federal debt and its relationship to state and local governments, Accenture’s David Wilson outlines how the debt crisis should lead to a fundamental reexamination of the way money transfers from federal to state coffers. He also argues for a government processes “Marshall Plan” that looks into [...]
The federal Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration is looking for a few good pilot programs that could help address the nation’s $60+ billion congestion problem. The application deadline for a $10.5 million grant from the Department of Transportation for Value Pricing Pilot (VPP) programs has been extend by two weeks, an announcement [...]
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will convene the first meeting of his Medicaid Redesign Team today. Earlier this week, Gov. Cuomo launched a website to track the Redesign Team’s progress and he has asked New Yorkers to help.
Wisconsin is the third state in the last few months to review its regulatory process as a way to energize job creation. Governor Scott Walker this week said the regulatory review would ensure that “only the most necessary rules are implemented so businesses are no longer held back by the costs of overregulation.”
California Governor Jerry Brown wants to save the state $20 million per year by making state employees return taxpayer funded cell phones. In his first executive order as governor, Mr. Brown directed agency and department heads to cut their employees’ cell phones by half. According to the governor’s office, 40 percent of all state employees [...]
Incoming New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo will be giving himself a pay cut as one of first actions in office. The current salary for the Governor is $179,000 and has not changed since 1999. With the pay cut, Governor Cuomo’s salary will drop to just above $170,000. Cuomo has said that he will return [...]
The 2010 mid-term elections saw just over 1600 new state legislators elected to office. The turnover rate reached 30 percent, which represents a 5 percent increase over the 1250 new legislators who took office in 2009. This massive shift adds to the complexities of state policymaking at a time when “new ideas” will have to [...]
