State budgets

With big state incentives and tariff protection, a United Arab Emirates-based aluminum producer has pledged to build the first new U.S. smelter in decades.

The budget traveled a bumpy road before a package of spending bills won final passage just days before the July 1 start of fiscal 2026.

Washington State Gov. Bob Ferguson said he doesn't plan on calling a special session to deal with lowered revenue expectations.

Oregon's Senate president altered the make-up of the transportation committee to get the massive tax bill passed.

Florida lawmakers passed a state budget and approved plans to pay off $830 million of debt in fiscal 2026 in advance of maturity.

A growing rainy-day fund helped Alaska win a Moody's Ratings upgrade, bringing the state's issuer and general obligation bond ratings to Aa2 from Aa3.

As the Senate Finance Committee works on the the reconciliation puzzle, attorneys, accountants, and doctors are lobbying for keeping the pass-through exemptions that provide a workaround to the cap on state and local taxes in place.

Southeast state governments are among the most dependent on federal Medicaid, SNAP and FEMA funding.

In a Monday special session that went late into the night, the state legislature passed a $66 billion budget that includes a $700 million bonding bill.

Municipal bond issuers in the state dodged a barrage of bills in this year's legislative session seeking to constrain their debt sales.

The North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management says the state will have widening deficits starting in fiscal 2026 unless changes are made.

A legislative office predicted the tax cut package would lead to a loss of $500 million a year rather than be revenue neutral.

The Illinois General Assembly sent Chicago transit agencies closer to the fiscal cliff, adjourning without sending a funding bill to Gov. JB Pritzker.

State governments would either have to spend more or fewer people would be covered, or a combination of the two, under the GOP's Medicaid and SNAP cuts.

An economic slowdown partially fueled by tariff turmoil has forced West Coast states to lower revenue projections and slash budgets.

Denise Canada, appointed by Brad Briner to head state and local government finance, has experience working for the state's local and state governments.

Gov. Ron DeSantis wants property tax cuts and House Speaker Daniel Perez wants a sales tax cut as future state deficits are projected.

As the budget reconciliation lurches through Congress towards a vote, the cap on state and local taxes remains a key bargaining chip while data shows state tax revenue declining and an uncertain future for the pass-through-entity workarounds adopted by more than 30 states.

Lawmakers have $755 million less to spend and only six more weeks to work on the two-year budget.

The rating agency, which gave the state a positive outlook a year ago, upgraded its general obligation rating a notch to AA-plus ahead of a $25 million bond sale.