by Karl Kurtz
This Saturday marks the beginning of Fiscal Year 2007 for most states. Will all of them have enacted budgets for the new year by then? Here's a rundown and links to stories on the states that are coming down to the wire.
In the last 10 days, budgets were passed, or at least deals reached, by legislatures in Arizona, New York, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and Virginia. Oklahoma and Virginia acted in special sessions that had to be called because of budget impasses in regular sessions earlier in the year.
Democrats and Republicans in the California Legislature announced just today that they have reached an agreement. If the deal holds, they plan to vote by July 1. Delaware and Pennsylvania are on track to complete their budgets this week. In North Carolina, which has sometimes missed the July 1 deadline in recent years, lawmakers are hammering out a final deal and hope to be finshed by Friday.
We couldn't find any newspaper stories to link to in Massachusetts, but the budget is in conference committee and is expected to be completed this week. In Michigan, where the new fiscal year doesn't begin until Oct. 1, our contacts are optimistic about finishing the budget by the fourth of July.
New Jersey is another story. Facing a budget gap of $4.5 billion--the worst budget crisis of any state--legislators are at odds over a sales tax increase. According to insiders, the governor is threatening a budget shutdown if the budget isn't passed by July 1. Stay tuned on this one.
Thanks to my colleague Corina Eckl for help in compiling this information. Have we missed any other states where budgets have not yet been enacted? Let us know.