The $200 billion in deficits that states face over the next two years will put the brakes on most big-ticket items in governors’ 2009 wish lists as the new legislative year gets under way amid the bleakest economy in a generation.
Republican Gov. John Hoeven of North Dakota Jan. 6 warned that even his state that has in the past seemed recession-proof could find this year tougher.
“The state of our state is strong,” Hoeven said, as he kicked off this year’s round of governors’ “state of the state” addresses that lay out the top executives’ visions for the coming year. But he noted that as many as 41 other states face budget deficits this year and next.
“Clearly our nation’s economy is in a down cycle, and we in North Dakota are not immune from its effects,” Hoeven said.
| 2009 STATE OF THE STATE SPEECHES | | | | Alabama | Feb. 3
| | Alaska | Jan 22
| | Arizona | Jan. 12
| | Arkansas | Jan. 13
| | California | Jan. 15
| | Colorado | Jan. 8
| | Connecticut | Jan. 7 | | Delaware | TBA*
| | Florida | March 3
| | Georgia | Jan. 14
| | Hawaii | Jan. 26
| | Idaho | Jan. 12
| | Illinois | TBA
| | Indiana | Jan. 13
| Iowa
| Jan. 13
| | Kansas | Jan. 12
| | Kentucky | Feb. 4
| | Louisiana | TBA
| | Maine | TBA
| | Maryland | Jan. 29
| | Massachusetts | Jan. 15
| | Michigan | TBA
| | Minnesota | Jan. 15
| | Mississippi | Jan. 13
| | Missouri | TBA
| | Montana | TBA
| | Nebraska | Jan. 15
| | Nevada | Jan. 15
| | New Hampshire | TBA | | New Jersey | Jan. 13
| | New Mexico | Jan. 20
| | New York | Jan. 7
| | North Carolina | TBA
| | North Dakota | Jan. 6 | | Ohio | Jan. 28
| | Oklahoma | Feb. 2
| | Oregon | Jan. 12
| | Pennsylvania | Feb. 3
| | Rhode Island | TBA | | South Carolina | Jan. 14
| | South Dakota | Jan. 13
| | Tennessee | TBA
| | Texas | Jan. 27
| | Utah | Jan. 26
| | Vermont | Jan. 8
| | Virginia | Jan. 14
| | Washington | Jan. 14
| | West Virginia | Feb. 11
| | Wisconsin | TBA
| | Wyoming | Jan. 14
| *To Be Announced
Compiled by Stateline.org staff |
|
Hoeven leads one of only a handful of energy and farm states that up until recently escaped the worst of the recession. But the
slumping economy is hitting even prosperous states like North Dakota, Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska and Texas.
Without a doubt, closing deficits will be the top issue for the 2009 legislative session. Unlike the federal government, states are required to have balanced budgets. North Dakota is among more than a dozen states that begin their legislative sessions this week. Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania are among others.
Experts say that state lawmakers will have to be innovative to sell their budget plans to voters, especially if they involve slashing popular social programs or raising taxes. In New York, for example, the state's top health official appears in a YouTube video promoting Gov. David Paterson’s (D) proposed 18 percent “fat tax” on soda and other sugary soft drinks.
Paterson isn’t the only governor talking about raising taxes to balance their budgets, a move that for years was considered too risky for fear of voter backlash. Paterson and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) both have proposed extending their state sales taxes to certain services, ranging from furniture repair to veterinarian services in California to haircuts and movie tickets in New York. The governors of Idaho, Oregon and South Dakota have all called for a higher gas tax.
Paterson gives his state of the state address today (Jan. 7) as does Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell (R). Both states rely heavily on the financial sector and have been rocked by the fiscal meltdown on Wall Street.
Stateline.org will track closely all 50 governors’ speeches. Click
here for
Stateline.org’s issue page that includes daily stories from local and national media about this year’s governors’ speeches and links to the full text of 2009 addresses. Click
here to access
Stateline.org’s archive of the full text of governors’ “state of the state” addresses since 2000.
In a first for the Rhode Island governor, Don Carcieri (R) will go on local television tonight (Jan. 7) to deliver his budget address, unveiling “the hard choices” he says are necessary cuts as the state faces “unprecedented budget challenges.” Carcieri will deliver his state of the state address later in the year at a date yet determined.
In California, where Schwarzenegger has warned the state faced "financial Armageddon," the governor has delayed until Jan. 15 his state of the state address, as insiders speculate that he wants to have a budget deal with the Legislature before speaking to voters. The state faces a $40 billion deficit over the next 18 months.
| 2009 LEGISLATIVE SESSIONS | State | Party
control | Session
starts | Session
ends | Ala. | D | Feb. 3 | May 18 | Alaska | Split | Jan. 20 | April 19 | Ariz. | R | Jan. 12 | Late April | Ark. | D | Jan. 12 | March 12 | Calif. | D | Dec. 1, 2008 | Sept. 12 | Colo. | D | Jan. 7 | May 7 | Conn. | D | Jan. 7 | June 3 | Del. | D | Jan. 13 | June 30 | Fla. | R | March 3 | May 1 | Ga. | R | Jan. 12 | Late March | Hawaii | D | Jan. 21 | Early May | Idaho | R | Jan. 12 | Early April | Ill. | D | Jan. 14 | Full year | Ind. | Split | Jan. 7 | April 29 | Iowa | D | Jan. 12 | May 1 | Kan. | R | Jan. 12 | Late April | Ky. | Split | Jan. 6 | March 30 | La. | D | April 27 | June 25 | Maine | D | Dec. 3, 2008 | June 17 | Md. | D | Jan. 14 | April 13 | Mass. | D | Jan. 7 | Full year | Mich. | Split | Jan. 14 | Full year | Minn. | D | Jan. 6 | May 18 | Miss. | D | Jan. 6 | April 5 | Mo. | R | Jan. 7 | May 30 | Mont. | D | Jan. 5 | Late April | Neb. | * | Jan. 7 | Early June | Nev. | D | Feb. 7 | June 8 | N.H. | D | Jan. 7 | July 1 | N.J. | D | Jan. 13 | Full year | N.M. | D | Jan. 20 | March 21 | N.Y. | D | Jan. 7 | Full year | N.C. | D | Jan. 28 | Early July | N.D. | R | Jan. 6 | April 30 | Ohio | Split | Jan. 5 | Full year | Okla. | R | Feb. 2 | May 29 | Ore. | D | Jan. 12 | Late June | Pa. | Split | Jan. 6 | Full year | R.I. | D | Jan. 6 | Late June | S.C. | R | Jan. 13 | June 4 | S.D. | R | Jan. 13 | March 30 | Tenn. | R | Jan. 13 | Late May | Texas | R | Jan. 13 | June 1 | Utah | R | Jan. 26 | March 12 | Vt. | D | Jan. 7 | Mid May | Va. | Split | Jan. 14 | Feb. 28 | Wash. | D | Jan. 12 | April 28 | W.Va. | D | Feb. 11 | April 11 | Wis. | D | Jan. 13 | Full year | Wyo. | R | Jan. 13 | March 6 | *Nebraska has a unicameral, nonpartisan legislature
Source: National Conference of State Legislatures |
|
In Florida, which has seen a 49 percent surge in food stamp requests and is facing a $2.3 billion deficit, Republican Gov. Charlie Crist is banking on finalizing a gambling agreement with the Seminole Indian Tribe and drawing on tobacco trust money. Crist will give his speech March 3.
Many states and governors are
lobbying Congress and President-elect Barack Obama for billions of dollars in federal aid to help states cover rising enrollment in Medicaid, unemployment benefits and the food stamp program. Democratic governors from New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio and Wisconsin recently suggested a $1 trillion economic stimulus package, including $350 billion for infrastructure, $250 billion for anti-poverty programs and $250 billion for education.
Health-care and education programs, which make up more than 60 percent of state spending, are already on the chopping block in many states. Utah, for example, ended some physical therapy, vision and hearing services offered under Medicaid, the national health insurance program that serves 59 million needy, while Nevada has capped enrollment in its state children’s health insurance program (SCHIP).
On the
education front, Washington state is considering slashing $1 billion in school funding to help plug a projected $5 billion shortfall over the next two years while Ohio may have to lift a tuition freeze to help patch a $7.3 billion shortfall for the upcoming two-year budget.
State employees also will feel the pain. Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) last month ordered temporary furloughs for two days for most of Maryland's 80,000 state employees to save an estimated $34 million over the next fiscal year. Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear (D) wants some state employees to take up to 24 days of unpaid leave in the next two years,
The Courier-Journal (Louisville) recently
reported.
Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. (R) last year ordered a four-day workweek for 17,000 of the state’s 23,000 employees. Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, South Carolina and Washington also switched some employees to shorter workweeks as a cost-saving measure. And at least 19 states declared hiring freezes and 14 banned travel to cut costs for fiscal 2009, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Governors’
ambitious 2008 proposals quickly went nowhere as the housing market tanked and the economy deteriorated. The faltering economy also sank proposals to expand health care insurance from the governors of Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico and Pennsylvania.
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By Lawrence Rosier on Jan 10, 2009 6:07:05 AM
January 10, 2009
From: Lawrence Rosier Management Consultant website: http://managementconsultant.blogsome.com
lawrence2007@embarqmail.com 573 364 8789
States can get Enormous savings from Changing
the Bureaucratic Form of Government. With states reeling from the current financial downturn and with pressure mounting on budgets now is the time to consider the benefits of government reform.
Most people who work in government believe that the bureaucratic organizational structure is the only form of government.
After the FBI's bureaucratic failure to forestall the 9-11 disaster and the Hurricane Katrina bureaucratic failures the general public is beginning to ask the right question. Did the bureaucratic form of government allow these disasters to happen? Bureaucracies have always infuriated the public with slow response and mountains of Red Tape but to cause the death of thousands through pure ineptitude is a new consideration.
There is an alternative to the Bureaucratic organizational structure it is a two tier form of organization with Steering Management at the top and Functional Management doing the required function's tasks. It is simple in nature with a direct connection between Functional Management and Steering Management without the intervening levels of management found in a bureaucracy. Steering Management has the role of guiding and steering the organization while Functional Management deals with the day to day operation of the function. Steering Management is responsible for telling Functional Management "what to do" but not "how to do it". This is a loose-tight organization with Steering firmly in control of the budget leaving Functional Management free to determine how best to do the job. Those in industry will recognize this as straight from the book "In Search of Excellence- Lessons from America's Best-Run Companies" by Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman Jr., Harper and Row, New York, 1982.
When I was on Hal Yost"s staff then President of the McDonnell Missile Systems Co. in the early 1980âââ‰â¢s I helped install a ****anese program called Quality of Work Life (QWL). This was a variant of the well known industry program called Total Quality Management (TQM). Each QWL team met once a week to work on improvements to the teamâââ‰â¢s work processes. The problem was that real dollar savings seamed elusive even though the implementation was highly successful and well received by employees. When Hal Yost retired I proposed the Steering and Functional Management type of organization to Sanford McDonnell, the CEO of the McDonnell Douglas Corp. It was approved and installed in the McDonnell Missile Systems Co. The management system was highly successful and was used for more than ten years until the McDonnell Douglas Corporation was sold to the Boeing Co.
The QWL teams became the Functional Management and elected their own leaders. All the intermediate management levels were eliminated or were folded into the Steering Management function. In the entire ten years I never heard a complaint about the new organization, just incredible enthusiasm and excitement among employees who were empowered to find the best way to do their jobs. Those supervisors who lost their career paths either embraced the new management method and supported it or were ignored and soon left the company.
Since that time I have made several innovative challenges to accepted Performance Measurement and Budgeting practices currently in use by government. The changes involve using Work Measurement with a bottoms-up approach to Performance Measurement and Budgeting.
The bureaucratic management structure is so embedded in our way of governing with all its flaws that it can not be reformed easily by government leaders without extensive and repeated focus on major bureaucratic failures coupled with a viable alternative. It is important to realize that it is the bureaucratic organization structure that is at fault, not government employees.
By Lawrence Rosier Management Consultant
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