Government

State Budgets Slowly Rebounding, But Not Yet Back to Pre-Recession Levels

States' fiscal results continue to record slow improvement but haven't rebounded to where they were before the recession struck.

The National Governors Association-National Association of State Budget Officers latest fiscal survey, released on Nov. 29, says states' projected fiscal 2012 general-fund revenue collections rose 1.6%, to $659.4 billion. But that figure is still $20.8 billion below states' cumulative 2008 level. A Dec. 1 National Council of State Legislatures report sketches a similar overall picture.

Only Colorado and Missouri cut fiscal 2012 transportation spending so far, compared with seven states' imposing mid-year 2011 transportation reductions totaling $392.4 million.

As ENR's former Washington Bureau Chief, Tom Ichniowski wrote about the federal government since the George H.W. Bush administration, and covered at least five major highway bills. A recognized expert on government policy on infrastructure and regulation, Tom is also a Baltimore native and Orioles fan who grew up rooting for Brooks and Frank Robinson. He is a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia’s graduate school of journalism, where he once used “unrelentless” in a headline.

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