These efforts are part of a strategy for dealing with the fallout of the national recession - fallout that left us with a $12 billion hole in the last budget cycle and that forecasters predict will keep us another $3 billion behind when legislators reconvene in January to craft the 2011-13 budget.
Well, as is said and as we've pointed out before, misery loves company. As reported by Stateline, The National Conference of State Legislatures just released a state budget update saying:
Nearly half of states reported fiscal 2011 gaps at 10 percent or more of their general fund budgets. The states with the largest gaps were Nevada (45 percent), New Jersey (28 percent), Arizona (27 percent), Maine (26 percent) and North Carolina (25 percent). Two-thirds of states already forecast another round of double-digit budget gaps for fiscal 2012.The Stateline article also points out that the two views in Congress about extending the FMAP money so many states are waiting on. It's worth a quick read.
