State Budget | featured news

The longest-ever state budget impasse moved toward a close as the lower house approved a spending blueprint after working through the night, but not before stuffing it with last-minute favors for special interests.

A top California lawmaker said on Friday the state's leaders had reached a final agreement on closing a $19.1 billion deficit to balance the state budget, ending a record stalemate over a spending plan.

California will enter the fourth month of its fiscal year on Friday without a state budget in place after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and top lawmakers failed to agree on Thursday on a spending plan.

Gov. David A. Paterson will ask the State Legislature to let him begin furloughing as many as 100,000 state workers one day a week until the stalled 2010 state budget is in place.

In a recession, state lawmakers are taxing personal vices. It’s good for you, they say, but it’s really better for their budgets.

Spurred by budget crises, California and Michigan together reduced their prison populations by more than 7,500 last year, contributing to what a new report says is the first nationwide decline in the number of state inmates since 1972.

State officials are trying to maneuver between saving money through early-release programs and maintaining the public’s sense of safety.

The proposal by state Sen. Chris Buttars would chip away at Utah's $700-million shortfall. He's since offered a toned-down version: Just make senior year optional. At Utah's West Jordan High School, the halls have swirled lately with debate over the merits of 12th grade...

States are looking to the federal government for more help balancing their budgets, but the Senate is not heeding their call.

California faces a nearly $21 billion budget gap over the next year and a half, extending a fiscal crisis that already has led to steep cuts to public schools, social services and health programs.