![]() ![]() ![]() Wade, the 1973 ruling that made abortion access the law of the land. ![]() Justices appear unlikely to uphold a Texas law that allows private individuals to sue abortion providers and facilitators, but most observers expect they’ll use a Mississippi case either to overturn or gut the precedent set by Roe v. The Supreme Court will soon rule on a pair of abortion bans. As employers, many states are still trying to figure out how and when to return the whole of their workforces to offices while having to compete for talent in a labor market tighter than it’s been for a generation. In November, a group of 15 Republican governors signed a letter promising to ease up on regulations on the strained trucking industry and take other steps to shore up the supply chain. As they gather in 2022, legislatures themselves are already watching recent history repeat itself, with some lawmakers meeting remotely while others have shown up at the capitol infected.ĬOVID-19 continues to have indirect effects as well. Even Democratic politicians have mostly grown wary of shutdowns and mandates, but states are having to respond to the ongoing health challenges in all sorts of ways, from sending National Guard troops to help out in hospitals to supplying vaccinations and at-home test kits. The omicron wave offers a reminder that the pandemic, about to enter its third year, is not over. “Their revenues are bursting through their estimates.” “States are in as good fiscal shape as they’ve been, certainly since before the Great Recession,” says Tim Storey, executive director of the National Conference of State Legislatures. Still, as lawmakers craft budgets this year, it’s clearly a good moment. State lawmakers should be thinking about how to go on one-time spending sprees - such as funding infrastructure projects largely underwritten by the trillion-dollar infrastructure bill signed by President Biden in November - rather than obligations they’d have to continue meeting into the future. Those may slow down, with forecasters predicting pressures on profits from inflation and rising interest rates. States have also benefited from strong corporate revenue collections. State surpluses have been boosted by $195 billion worth of aid approved by Congress last year as part of its COVID-19 emergency response. Jim Justice, the Republican governor of West Virginia, wants to raise pay for state employees by 5 percent, while also offering a one-time supplement of 2.5 percent to offset inflation.Īlthough revenue is plentiful, it’s not an endlessly renewable resource. Brad Little, for example, has proposed increasing school spending by 11 percent while cutting taxes by more than $600 million. So much money sloshing around is driving dreams of spending for programs old and new, while also leading to promises of tax cuts from Republican and Democratic governors alike. ![]() “This year we basically have $4 billion.” “In a typical year, we might have $300 million or $400 million of discretionary spending decisions to make,” said Colorado state Sen. Thanks to federal largesse and unexpectedly robust revenues, states across the country are enjoying a budget season that’s not just rosy but would have been essentially unimaginable when 2021 began. His proposed spending spree is possible thanks to the state’s surplus, which currently stands at $45.7 billion.Ĭalifornia’s numbers are outsized, as ever, but they aren’t unusual. That amount tops last year’s budget - already of record size - by more than $20 billion. 10, California’s Democratic governor unveiled a budget plan that includes $286.4 billion in spending. ![]()
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