Jim Watts

A $1 billion budget for fiscal 2013 proposed by Phoenix City Manager David Cavazos received preliminary approval last week from the City Council.

DALLAS — After going overtime, Kansas lawmakers wrapped up their work Sunday with approval of a $14.3 billion budget for fiscal 2013 that cuts general fund spending by 3% from fiscal 2012.

DALLAS — Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin and Republican leaders in the Legislature have agreed on income tax cuts that would reduce state revenue by almost $33 million next year and more than $100 million in fiscal 2014.

The Louisiana State Bond Commission gave the go-ahead Thursday to a negotiated refunding of up to $700 million of outstanding state debt.

DALLAS — Louisiana Treasurer John N. Kennedy criticized Gov. Bobby Jindal Tuesday for using scare tactics in a dispute over the House’s refusal to appropriate non-recurring revenues in the fiscal 2013 budget.

A bill authorizing $325 million of revenue bonds to upgrade Louisiana’s rural roads was sent to Gov. Bobby Jindal last week without receiving a single negative vote as it passed through the Legislature.

DALLAS — Top Louisiana officials said Monday that higher education and public health would be devastated by fiscal 2013 spending cuts mandated by a budget passed late last week by the House.

El Paso must amend its plan to present voters in November with a single ballot question for a general obligation bond deal worth as much as $835 million, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said last week.

Texas collected $2.07 billion from sales tax in April, up 11% from the same period in 2011.

A recent poll found a slim majority of Arkansas voters oppose a plan to raise the sales tax rate to finance a $1.8 billion highway construction program.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe last week certified the official revenue forecast for fiscal 2012 to provide an additional $39.4 million in collections for the year, which ends June 30.

Maricopa County supervisors approved a debt refinancing plan last week that provides funding for improvements to baseball spring training facilities in the Phoenix area.

DALLAS — Debate on Louisiana's budget for fiscal 2013 hit an impasse Thursday as conservative Republicans objected to fellow GOP Gov. Bobby Jindal's plan to use $268 million of one-time revenue to balance the $25 billion spending plan.

DALLAS — The Kansas House adopted a $14.4 billion budget for fiscal 2013 late Tuesday that takes money from Department of Transportation revenues to raise public education funding by $50 million.

The St. Bernard Parish, La., School Board will receive a final payment of $148.3 million for rebuilding efforts from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Louisiana saved more than $100 million in debt service costs with last week’s $803 million refunding of gasoline and fuels tax revenue bonds, said state Treasurer John Kennedy.

DALLAS — El Paso County, Texas, will dedicate $27 million of proceeds from $110 million of certificates of obligation to complete a bridge project across the Rio Grande into Mexico.

DALLAS — Leaders of the Democratic minority in the Oklahoma Senate said Monday they would oppose any of several state bond proposals while Republican-sponsored cuts in the state income tax rate remain on the table.

A Texas state court judge in Travis County last week reversed a decision that could have cost state and local governments millions of dollars each year in lost sales tax revenues.

The University of Texas System Board of Regents last week said the system would contribute $25 million a year to operations of a medical school in Austin if locals provide $35 million a year.