• Swine flu: Without paid sick leave, workers won’t stay home, By Patrik Jonsson, November 8, 2009, Christian Science Monitor: “Nearly half of all American workers do not have paid sick leave, and half of these are more likely to go to work feeling unwell - or send an ill child to school - rather than take an unpaid day off. These findings threaten to undermine President Obama’s effort to have anyone exhibiting swine-flu-like symptoms stay at home for as many as four days. The emphasis on prevention and individual responsibility is a welcome departure from the punitive government actions - such as quarantines and forced vaccinations - called for under previous pandemic-response plans, some health experts say. But for the 48 percent of Americans without paid sick leave, the policy presents a choice between two equally undesirable options: stay at home and lose money or go to work despite government exhortations not to. Businesses, too, say the situation leads to so-called ‘presenteeism,’ or the act of going to work while unwell, costing the economy $180 million a year, by one estimate…”
• Lawmakers call for emergency sick-leave requirement, By Joe Markman, November 11, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “Against the backdrop of the H1N1 flu pandemic, congressional Democrats are pushing for emergency sick-leave legislation and using the crisis to garner support for a wider-ranging bill — both of which, they say, would help prevent a more rapid spread of the virus by mandating that employers provide workers with paid time off. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), chairing a health subcommittee hearing Tuesday, said that requiring businesses with 15 or more employees to offer seven paid days off a year would end a dangerous choice ‘between staying healthy and making ends meet.’ But some conservatives argue that Democrats are using a public health crisis as momentum for faulty legislation that would harm businesses by inviting abuse by workers…”

• Welfare ‘hybrid’ to emerge, By Angela Mapes Turner, October 18, 2009, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “More than $360 million into the state’s largest private contract, Indiana faces uncertainty about how it will rebuild from its failed welfare privatization attempt and what it has actually gained. The state’s Family and Social Services Administration also faces the task of replacing its dinosaur of a core computer system down the road - a cost that had not even been included in the IBM contract. Gov. Mitch Daniels announced Thursday he was firing IBM Corp. as administrator of the state’s food stamp, Medicaid and welfare benefits and that the state would assume IBM’s role at the helm of a ‘hybrid’ system…”
• Daniels, GOP could face welfare deal fallout, By Mike Smith (AP), Chicago Tribune: “Democrats to Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels: We told you so. The gloating was to be expected after Daniels announced Thursday that he was canceling a contract with IBM Corp. to automate applications for food stamps, Medicaid and other welfare benefits. The project introduced in the spring of 2007 had been fraught with complaints of lost documents, delays in approving benefits, lengthy call hold times and severed eligibility for Medicaid and food stamps. Federal officials had closely scrutinized the state’s performance, and the state had put IBM on notice that it needed to improve…”
• Welfare critics await new system, By Eric Bradner, October 18, 2009, Evansville Courier and Press: “A human touch could have eased the anguish of Omega Young, an Evansville woman who fought for six months with Indiana’s welfare agency to have her Medicaid benefits reinstated at the same time she was fighting a losing battle with cancer. No one took note in time to help Young, whose benefits were approved March 2, the day after she died. But her struggle was vindicated when Gov. Mitch Daniels decided last week to cancel the state’s 10-year, $1.34 billion contract with IBM Corp. that created the modernized system she tried so hard to navigate, said her sister, Christal Bell. ‘She needed all the help she could get,’ Bell said. ‘But there are other people who need help, too.’ Now, thanks in part to Young’s story, others who face hardships such as disease, poverty and disability might get the personal assistance they need from Indiana’s Family and Social Services Administration under a newly-announced hybrid system…”
• Firms downplay local impact of canceled IBM contract, By Dave Stafford, October 18, 2009, Anderson Herald Bulletin: “Companies in Anderson and Daleville that expanded two years ago when IBM won a contract to privatize Indiana’s welfare system downplayed local effects after the state canceled the deal. An IBM call center in Daleville and an Affiliated Computer Services facility at the Flagship Enterprise Park had expanded as part of an IBM pledge to create 1,000 jobs in exchange for getting a $1.34 billion contract to handle welfare applications and provide other services for the Family and Social Services Administration…”

• State botched chance for aid, By Katy Stech, October 16, 2009, Charleston Post and Courier: “Thousands of out-of-work South Carolinians will miss out on five months of unemployment checks because state officials failed to tweak a rule enabling them to tap into federal stimulus money. The state’s high jobless rate, one of the worst in the country at 11.5 percent, means some unemployed residents could be receiving an additional 20 weeks of checks when they run out of their current state and federal benefits. More than 113,000 South Carolina unemployed residents already have exhausted their benefits. To get access to the additional money, state lawmakers needed to pass temporary changes to the economic index they use to trigger additional emergency benefits in times of unprecedented financial hardship. No bill was ever proposed. South Carolina is one of two states eligible for the most generous benefits but is not receiving them. The other is Mississippi…”
• Leaders aim to fix benefits, By Katy Stech, October 17, 2009, Charleston Post and Courier: “State lawmakers scrambled Friday to figure out if they could fix an oversight that has cost thousands of out-of-work South Carolinians extended unemployment benefits. Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell and House Speaker Bobby Harrell said they support fixing the problem, which could involve calling a special session of the General Assembly, and deployed their staffs to determine the cheapest, easiest way to make the necessary changes to the law. ‘It’s an open-ended question at this point,’ said McConnell, who expects his staff will come up with an answer early next week. Calling a special session, by McConnell’s estimate, would cost about $17,000 but could bring the state tens of millions of dollars in federal money for unemployed residents. Meanwhile, federal policy experts indicated that, if the proper changes are made, some residents who missed out on earlier benefits could start receiving weekly paychecks again…”

Report: Lawmakers to cut state budgets even deeper, By Glen Johnson (AP), October 15, 2009, Washington Post: “In Massachusetts, freefalling tax revenue will mean no more dental and hospice care for legal immigrants. Maryland is closing a mental health center. And Illinois has $2.9 billion in unpaid bills. As bad as state budget-cutting was during the past year, a report issued Thursday showed it’s bound to be even worse in the coming months. Despite signs of improvement in the national economy, many states’ finances are still dismal…”

• Governor lobbies for Medicaid expansion, By Michelle Saxton, October 6, 2009, Charleston Daily Mail: “A proposed expansion of Medicaid has some governors voicing concern about how states will afford greater coverage in a challenging economy, but Gov. Joe Manchin argues that an expansion focused on prevention will help reduce costs from uncompensated care. ‘You have to expand that to get people more involved in the system,’ Manchin said Monday. ‘We’re paying for them now anyway. People will wait and go to the emergency room when they get deathly ill or seriously ill at the highest cost,’ he said. ‘But if you get them into more of a managed type of care, showing them how to take action on the preventive side, you can really cut down the costs on the most expensive side. That’s the debate that’s going on…’”
• Expansion of Medicaid could impose costs on Ohio, By Jack Torry and Jonathan Riskind, October 7, 2009, Columbus Dispatch: “As Ohio officials try to close an $850 million budget hole, the key U.S. Senate health-care overhaul package could cost Ohio $922 million in additional Medicaid spending in the plan’s first five years. The health-care bill, which is expected to win the Senate Finance Committee’s approval this week, would add nearly 800,000 Ohio residents to the state’s Medicaid roll. The bill would do so by allowing a family of four with an annual income of up to $29,300 to be eligible for Medicaid coverage instead of the current limit of $22,050 for such a family…”
• Levine: Health bill hurts Medicaid, By Gerard Shields, October 7, 2009, Baton Rouge Advocate: “Louisiana’s top health official is criticizing a provision in the U.S. Senate’s health-care bill that would give four states, including that of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, of Nevada, full federal funding for increases in the Medicaid rolls. Louisiana would have to pay a 5 percent match for any new federal money for expansion of Medicaid amounting to $614 million over five years, said Alan Levine, secretary of the state Department of Health and Hospitals. ‘The cost to Nevada?’ Levine said. ‘Zero.’ The news of the provision comes at a time when Louisiana is struggling to get control of its Medicaid budget…”

• Obama aides act to fix safety net, By Jackie Calmes, October 5, 2009, New York Times: “With unemployment expected to rise well into next year even as the economy slowly recovers, the Obama administration and Democratic leaders in Congress are discussing extending several safety net programs as well as proposing new tax incentives for businesses to renew hiring. President Obama’s economic team discussed a wide range of ideas at a meeting on Monday, following his Saturday radio address in which he said it would ‘explore additional options to promote job creation.’ But officials emphasized that a decision was still far off and that in any event the effort would not add up to a second economic stimulus package, only an extension of the first…”
• States offer route for jobs spending, By Gerald F. Sieb, October 6, 2009, Wall Street Journal: “The really bad news for Democrats isn’t that the unemployment rate hit 9.8% last week. The really bad news for the party in power is that the last time unemployment reached that level, it was there or higher for exactly one year. That was between July 1982 and June 1983. If you are thinking of this precedent in political terms, it is important to note that smack in the middle of that dreary stretch, the party then in control — the Republicans — lost 26 House seats in the 1982 midterm elections. Today’s downturn is even harsher, and there is some evidence that the American job-creating machine doesn’t work quite as well now as it did then, even in good times…”

• State’s social services suffering, panel learns, By Mary Beth Schneider, September 25, 2009, Indianapolis Star: “Too many errors and delays and too little face-to-face contact with clients are hampering Indiana’s privatized welfare delivery service, the state acknowledged Friday to lawmakers. Despite those persistent problems, Anne Murphy, secretary of the Family and Social Services Administration, told the bipartisan State Budget Committee that no decision has been made on whether to end the $1.34 billion, 10-year contract that Indiana has with an IBM-led group to manage food stamps, Medicaid and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program…”
• Indiana welfare problems linger, budget committee told, By Lesley Stedman Weidenbener, September 25, 2009, Louisville Courier-Journal: “Significant problems remain in Indiana’s welfare application system, and no decision has been made about whether to sever a controversial contract with the private firm handling the work, a key state official told lawmakers Friday. Some parts of the system have improved since Gov. Mitch Daniels ordered the private consortium - which includes IBM and Affiliated Computer Services - to fix problems or face losing a 10-year, $1.3 billion contract, said Anne Murphy, secretary of the state Family and Social Services Administration…”
• Political, geographical lines divide welfare solutions, By Eric Bradner, September 26, 2009, Evansville Courier and Press: “Gov. Mitch Daniels’ administration is working to improve its human services agency’s troubled attempt to modernize, and state lawmakers are grappling with how and where their pressure can be applied best. But geographic and political differences have made it impossible for all parties to agree on an approach that is suitable statewide. In some pockets, such as Evansville, frustration with the new system has reached a boiling point. Some lawmakers say the project is hopeless and the best choice is to cut losses and abandon it. In other places, such as Indianapolis, the changes have not been rolled out yet. In other areas, the new system is working relatively well, according to Indiana Family and Social Services Administration officials…”

Utah’s Medicaid wants a big boost, By Lisa Rosetta, September 28, 2009, Salt Lake Tribune: “With its enrollment fast approaching 200,000 Utahns — an all-time high — the state’s Medicaid program is poised to ask the Legislature for $17 million in additional funding to keep it afloat through fiscal 2010. But it’s a request that may fall on unsympathetic ears. Alarmed by an audit that said Medicaid’s Bureau of Program Integrity could save as much as $20 million if it more scrupulously examined bills and claims for services, House Speaker Dave Clark said the public health insurance program is going to have to find those savings and plug its own funding hole…”

• Proposing a public health option as a ’safety net’, By Robert Pear, September 19, 2009, New York Times: “Senator Olympia J. Snowe, a pivotal Republican, described on Saturday the changes she wanted to see in a comprehensive health care bill to make insurance more affordable, and she proposed a government insurance company as a possible backup to the private market if coverage remains too costly. Ms. Snowe’s proposal was among 564 amendments filed in the last couple of days by members of the Senate Finance Committee, which plans to take up the legislation this week as the struggle over health care enters a critical new phase…”
• How health overhaul would affect the uninsured, By Christopher Weaver, September 21, 2009, National Public Radio: “How many Americans are uninsured? According to the Census Bureau, in 2008, more than 46 million Americans - about 15 percent of the population - did not have health insurance. Because of the recession, many experts believe the number is now larger. Who are the uninsured? Income is a strong factor in identifying the uninsured. About two-thirds of uninsured Americans earn less than twice the federal poverty level, which is $22,050 for a family of four. Almost 25 percent of the uninsured are poor enough to be eligible for Medicaid but are not enrolled…”
• Uninsured take a toll on all North Texans, By Robert T. Garrett and Jason Roberson, September 20, 2009, Dallas Morning News: “Up to one-third of Dallas-area residents don’t have health insurance, and the number is rising. Everybody in North Texas pays the cost, through taxes and higher insurance costs - as much as $1,800 per family. Illegal immigrants pump up the numbers. But even if there weren’t any here, Texas still would virtually lead the nation in percentage of residents without health insurance, according to both conservative and liberal researchers. And Dallas County is close on Harris County’s heels as the major metro county with the lowest rate of health insurance coverage…”

Pa. budget stalemate is killing social services, By Jeff Gammage, September 17, 2009, Philadelphia Inquirer: “A pile of unopened mail sits on the front counter. Incoming phone calls go directly to the voice-mail system. Beyond the front desk - unattended because the receptionist was laid off - are darkened offices and empty cubicles. The Caring People Alliance has operated in Philadelphia for nearly eight decades, battling an array of social ills and striving to help children in need. But unless something happens to end the state budget impasse, and soon, the agency may not see the new year. The 11-week-old stalemate in Harrisburg has cut off the flow of government dollars to the alliance and dozens of other social-service providers across Pennsylvania. Some survive through the generosity of their bankers. Others could soon go out of business…”

• Voter ID decision resurrects debate, By Bill Ruthhart and Jon Murray, September 18, 2009, Indianapolis Star: “The Indiana Court of Appeals’ rejection of the state’s controversial voter ID law Thursday has reignited a political firestorm over its merits and left Gov. Mitch Daniels accusing judges of playing politics. The ruling fanned the flames on a debate that has raged since 2005, when Indiana became the first state to require voters to show government-issued photo identification at the polls. Republicans have long held that the law strengthens the electoral process and prevents fraud, while Democrats have insisted that it disenfranchises elderly, disabled and poor voters…”
• Indiana court strikes down voter ID law, By John Schwartz, September 17, 2009, New York Times: “An Indiana law requiring voters to show identification, declared constitutional by the United States Supreme Court just last year, was struck down Thursday by a state appellate court. The state court said the law violated the Indiana Constitution by not treating all voters equally. The legislature passed the voter ID law in 2005, and it was challenged in federal court. The Supreme Court upheld it in April 2008, but that July the League of Women Voters brought a new suit in state court…”
• Indiana court strikes down state’s voter ID law, By Charles Wilson and Mike Smith (AP), September 17, 2009, Indianapolis Star: “The state Court of Appeals on Thursday struck down an Indiana law requiring government-issued photo identification for voters, overturning on state constitutional grounds a strict law that previously had been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller said he would appeal the ruling. ‘The state’s long-held view is that the Voter ID law is constitutional, and we will vigorously defend the statute in arguing that position before the Indiana Supreme Court,’ he said…”

Fresh eyes for poverty guidelines, By Josh Gerstein, September 14, 2009, Politico.com: “Two academics who are vocal critics of the federal government’s antiquated system for measuring poverty have landed important jobs in the Obama Administration, though it’s unclear whether they can overcome the political inertia that has left the current system largely undisturbed for more than four decades. The two Obama appointees - Rebecca Blank, former dean of the public policy school at the University of Michigan, and Georgetown Law professor Mark Greenberg - are part of a dedicated band of scholars who have argued for years that the Federal Poverty Guidelines are a badly warped yardstick for poverty because they are derived solely from food costs and don’t take account of a wide array of valuable benefits lower-income Americans get from federal and local governments…”

Social services suffered, Pa. budget deal or not, By Marc Levy and Ramit Plushnick-Masti (AP), September 12, 2009, Philadelphia Inquirer: “A tentative deal in Pennsylvania’s Capitol that could release billions of state dollars for schools and countless social services has come too late for people like Megan Shreve, Avona Proctor and hundreds of others whose lives have been disrupted by the political stalemate. Even if the deal is approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Ed Rendell, who is threatening a veto, legislative officials say it could take weeks for money to actually arrive in the bank accounts of private service providers. And the budget is already more than two months overdue…”

Obama would keep $85 billion in tax breaks for working poor, By Lori Montgomery, September 3, 2009, Washington Post: “President Obama is proposing to add more than $85 billion to the nation’s budget deficits over the next decade to extend two tax breaks for the working poor, a move critics on Wednesday blasted as a violation of Obama’s pledge to pay for new policies. The tax breaks were included in the economic stimulus package Obama signed soon after taking office in January, and are scheduled to expire in 2011. But last week, in its midyear update of the federal budget, the White House said it plans to extend the tax cuts through 2019 without covering the cost by cutting spending or raising taxes elsewhere. The reason? Technically, the stimulus amended a series of sweeping tax cuts enacted in 2001 during the Bush administration. Obama has repeatedly said he does not expect Congress to cover the enormous cost of maintaining the Bush tax cuts past their 2010 expiration date. And because the stimulus provisions are now part of the Bush tax cuts, Congress shouldn’t have to pay for them, either, White House budget documents say…”

States shut down to save cash, By Leslie Eaton, Ryan Knutson, and Philip Shishkin, September 4, 2009, Wall Street Journal: “California drivers can’t line up to renew their licenses Friday. Wisconsin natives can’t order copies of their birth certificates. Georgia consumers will have to postpone registering complaints with state watchdogs. And stranded motorists in Maryland may have to wait a little longer for highway-department help. Across the country, cash-strapped state governments are shutting down business for a day at a time to save money. State offices are shuttered Friday in California, Maine, Maryland and Michigan. Rhode Island had planned to join them until a judge on Thursday blocked its closure plan. Some state agencies are closed in Georgia and Wisconsin, and most Colorado state offices will be shuttered on Tuesday. Other states, such as Arizona, have been trying to keep their operations open while furloughing thousands of workers. So far the effect of furloughs appears to have been muted, with most people able to take care of state business in advance of closures or by filing forms online. But at the Detroit Center for Family Advocacy, which helps low-income families avoid sending children to foster care, furloughs have already slowed assistance efforts, said managing attorney Tracy Green…”

$3.1B set aside for jobless unclaimed, By Matt Kelley, August 30, 2009, USA Today: “More than $3.1 billion in stimulus money for state unemployment insurance programs is sitting in a federal trust fund because 23 states haven’t expanded their jobless benefits, Labor Department records show. Nearly 350,000 out-of-work Americans could get benefits if all those states revamp their unemployment systems to qualify for federal money, according to estimates from the National Employment Law Project (NELP), a workers’ advocacy group. In all, the stimulus package offers $7 billion to states that make changes, which can include offering benefits to part-time workers…”

• Auditors warn Utah Medicaid is likely wasting millions of taxpayer dollars, By Heather May, August 18, 2009, Salt Lake Tribune: ” Millions of tax dollars are likely being wasted in Utah’s Medicaid program on procedures — including a breast augmentation and nose jobs — that aren’t covered by the government insurance program, according to a scathing legislative audit released Tuesday. Millions more are lost because the Medicaid department isn’t adequately going after providers who submit fraudulent bills. And while there are three sets of internal auditors charged with overseeing the department and its $1.7 billion budget, none are independent enough to do their jobs appropriately, the report says…”
• Audit says Utah losing millions to Medicaid fraud, waste, By Lana Groves, August 18, 2009, Deseret News: “Legislators are appalled over the results of an audit reporting the state Medicaid system is losing millions because of an outdated system. The state audit released Tuesday found that the Utah Department of Health’s Bureau of Program Integrity, which checks for fraud, waste and abuse within the state Medicaid program, is mismanaged and failed on several occasions to follow policy regarding cost-saving methods…”

States plug budget holes, for now, By Pamela M. Prah, August 17, 2009, Stateline.org: “This year’s state legislative session will go down as one of the most brutal in recent memory as the national recession forced lawmakers to find money to cover a staggering $215 billion in estimated budget gaps for 2009 and 2010 - the equivalent of more than $700 for every man, woman and child in the country. Even with the federal stimulus package dumping billions of dollars into the states, California, Kentucky, Nevada, New York and Washington are among states that struggled with the largest deficits in modern history. California, by far, faced the biggest challenge - a whopping $26 billion gap - that forced the state to slash $15 billion in basic services, including program funds for K-12 education and health care for the poor, and to divert some $4 billion from local jurisdictions…”

• Pa.’s budget stalemate frays its social safety net, By Marc Levy (AP), August 13, 2009, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Pennsylvania’s six-week-old budget stalemate has turned off the spigot that normally keeps billions of taxpayer dollars flowing for social services for the poor, prompting scores of nonprofit agencies to lay off workers, take out loans and cut back to survive. Another month or more without action to free up that money could irrevocably tear a safety net that is already jammed with waiting lists and relies heavily on low-wage employees, according to nonprofit directors and the government officials who deal with them. For now, dollars are drying up for everything from day care for children of the working poor to people who desperately need mental health counseling…”
• Impasse could end day care for many children, By Brad Bumsted and Debra Erdley, August 12, 2009, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: “Jody Van Varenberg isn’t sure how she’ll pay the bills this month at Today’s Tot, her small child-care center in Washington. The state subsidizes many of her children but hasn’t paid Van Varenberg since June. The skeleton budget that Gov. Ed Rendell signed last month hasn’t changed her circumstances. ‘I’m one of the people who still aren’t getting paid,’ Van Varenberg said, adding that she wonders how long child-care operators like herself will be able to hang on. There’s no relief in sight yet for day-care centers across Pennsylvania…”
• Phila. ‘a city being held hostage’, By Daniel Rubin, August 13, 2009, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Sign of the times spotted in the Criminal Justice Center: We are out of paper. No copying folks. (Unless you supply!!) Here’s another sign. Defense attorney Sanjai Weaver has started taking SEPTA to work. The court has not paid the former prosecutor and judicial candidate since May, though she continues her court-appointed advocacy. ‘It finally dawned on me last Monday,’ she says, ‘You can’t pay for parking, you can’t pay for the gas.’ She is owed more than $15,000. As the economy has turned downward, Weaver has relied more and more on assignments from judges to represent the poor in criminal cases. Such work now represents close to 90 percent of her income. But government work turns out to have been a gamble…”

Glitches mar Indiana’s effort to outsource social services, By William M. Bulkeley, August 12, 2009, Wall Street Journal: “Processing of welfare, food-stamp and Medicaid claims in Indiana was plagued with difficulties when the state outsourced the system to International Business Machines Corp. and Affiliated Computer Services Inc. two years ago. The problem hasn’t been resolved since then. ‘There’s a myriad of problems,’ said Anne Murphy, secretary of the state’s Family and Social Services Administration. ‘Error rates are too high. We’re not processing claims within federal guidelines.’ Naomi Mundy, a 59-year-old homemaker, said it took 15 months after she developed melanoma to get Indiana to pay her health-care benefits under Medicaid because of outsourcing snafus…”

‘Poverty threshold’ update sought, By Sarah Chacko, August 11, 2009, Baton Rouge Advocate: “Members of the U.S. Congress are seeking to update the federal ‘poverty threshold’ and measure figures that determine at what income level a household is considered poor. Backers say the change will more accurately define poverty in America and show that the current measure underestimates the problem. Opponents say the change is an attempt to raise support for wasteful spending on social services. The ‘poverty threshold’ - the line by which people’s incomes are measured to determine their economic status - is what the federal government uses to determine who receives how much in services…”

At least 23 states spend less on prisons, By John Gramlich, August 11, 2009, Stateline.org: “A $1 billion cost-cutting plan announced last week by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) will translate into layoffs for more than a thousand state prison workers. In Oregon, a voter-approved plan to hand longer prison sentences to those who commit property crimes was delayed by state lawmakers who said they could not pay for it. Tennessee’s department of corrections has sought to save money by offering inmates less milk and meat in their daily meals. And in Kansas - which has received national attention in recent years for shifting resources from locking up prisoners to rehabilitating them - the state eliminated 85 percent of the slots in its substance-abuse treatment program for inmates, citing budget constraints…”

• State cuts to health, welfare programs inflict pain, By Barbara Anderson and E.J. Schultz, August 3, 2009, Fresno Bee: “What will $3.3 billion in cuts to state health and welfare programs mean for the Valley? Children will lose health insurance. Fragile mental health programs will take another hit. Counties will have less money to investigate child abuse and pay foster homes. The list goes on. In the Valley — where poverty rates hover near 20% — the cuts will take a serious toll, said one economist. ‘The ripple effect is enormous,’ said Joseph Penbera, who teaches at California State University, Fresno…”
• Welfare-to-work program takes hit, By Brian Charles, August 3, 2009, The Signal: “California’s program to get people off the welfare rolls and into the work place has been largely gutted by the recently passed state budget, officials said Monday. ‘CalWorks’ - short for California Work Opportunities and Responsibility to Kids program - was launched in California in the mid-1990s in response to federal welfare reform legislation…”

Payday lenders giving lobbyists big paydays to stop interest cap, By Cary Spivak and Patrick Marley, August 2, 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “The latest bid to regulate Wisconsin’s payday lending industry is turning into a big bonanza for the Madison lobbying corps, as more than two dozen influence-peddlers fight a proposed 36% cap on interest rates. At stake is the future of the much-maligned industry that provides small short-term loans with double-digit interest rates. Those rates can skyrocket - quickly hitting 400% or more yearly - as borrowers unable to pay off their debts repeatedly roll over the loans…”

• California deal leaves more kids uninsured, By Ryan Knutson, August 1, 2009, Wall Street Journal: “California’s budget deal is expected to nearly double the state’s number of uninsured children and puts a spotlight on a key provision in the health-care bills in Congress. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this week signed a revised annual budget to close California’s $24 billion shortfall, including a $1.4 billion cut to Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid. In addition, California slashed $178.6 million from Healthy Families, its version of the Children’s Health Insurance Program…”
• Sacramento-area parents fear Healthy Families cuts, By Bobby Caina Calvan, August 3, 2009, Sacramento Bee: ” Monique Kolster and her children are in a tense waiting game. Her daughter Elle is a healthy 2-year-old, but 4-year-old Tadd has a chronic ailment requiring frequent visits to doctors and specialists. Sometime soon Kolster will learn if the children can keep their medical coverage from California’s budget-ravaged Healthy Families program, the safety net for hundreds of thousands of children…”

States slash health care programs in budget crisis, By Susan Haigh (AP), July 29, 2009, The State: “Aurice Barlow knows what happens when someone can’t afford dental care. ‘I see people walking the streets with toothaches, teeth hanging out of their mouths,’ said the former nurse’s aide. At least 30 percent of the people in this city of 124,500 are impoverished. ‘Nobody cares,’ she says. Barlow is worried she’ll now become one of them. Washington is pouring $87 billion in federal stimulus money into the states to help maintain state-run Medicaid health care for the needy - and to handle the expected surge in enrollment. But Connecticut and other cash-strapped states say they still must slash spending on health care to cover massive budget deficits. At least 21 states have already restricted low-income children’s and families’ eligibility for health insurance or their access to services; at least 22 states and the District of Columbia are cutting services for low-income elderly or disabled patients…”

• Cuts in safety net for children go far too deep, Editorial, July 29, 2009, San Jose Mercury News: “Tuesday marked a new low for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in his role as a guardian of the health of California’s children. With a stroke of his blue pencil, the governor axed an additional $50 million from the state’s Healthy Families program, which provides health insurance to California’s neediest children. That’s on top of the devastating $144 million in cuts to Healthy Families in the budget deal Schwarzenegger had negotiated with the Legislature last week…”
• Safety net takes hit in this budget, Editorial, July 29, 2009, Sacramento Bee: “Spending on health and welfare programs for the poor is the state government’s second most expensive item, after the public schools. Last year, California taxpayers spent about $29 billion on these services for their less fortunate neighbors. But in the current economic climate, even these essential programs are going under the knife…”

• Governor signs budget, vetoes $650 million in spending, By Thadeus Greenson, July 29, 2009, Contra Costa Times: “With a stroke of his pen Tuesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made official what is perhaps the largest reduction in state services California has ever seen. But before signing his name to the state’s revised $85 billion budget, Schwarzenegger used his budget knife to deepen some of the cuts lawmakers approved last week, using his veto power to carve out another $656 million in spending reductions. Schwarzenegger’s vetoes — added to the more than $15 billion in cuts lawmakers approved Friday — drew sharp condemnation from some…”
• Schwarzenegger’s vetoes prompt Democratic threats, By Judy Lin (AP), July 29, 2009, San Francisco Chronicle: “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a revised $85 billion budget and targeted welfare programs for deeper cuts, prompting opposition Democrats to threaten to block his political agenda during his final months in office…”
• County: Governor’s vetoes may hurt kids, elderly, poor, By Tony Burchyns, July 29, 2009, Vallejo Times-Herald: “Solano County officials scrambled Tuesday to analyze the latest round of cuts to California’s budget after the governor used his line-item veto power to save an additional $656 million. One top county official forecast longer waits for services, as well as an increase in the number of abused kids falling through the cracks of the so-called safety net designed to protect society’s most disadvantaged people…”

• Reach of subsidies is critical issue for health plan, By Robert Pear, July 26, 2009, New York Times: “The major health care bills moving through Congress would require nearly all Americans to have health insurance. But as lawmakers struggle to achieve the goal of universal coverage, a critical question is whether the plans will be affordable to those who are currently uninsured…”
• Small business owners wary of health reform, By Guy Boulton, July 26, 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Dianne Wonder, owner of Alpha-Omega Cleaning in New Berlin, has followed the debate over health care reform closely through a variety of media outlets and e-mails from her representatives in Congress. ‘I find it very difficult to know what to believe because there is so much conflicting information,’ Wonder said.  But she knows this: A payroll tax on employers who don’t provide health benefits would increase her business’ costs…”
• Hawaii law mandates health coverage, By Mark Niesse (AP), July 27, 2009, Charlotte Observer: “Hawaii’s 35-year-old mandate for companies to provide insurance to workers has brought something less than universal health care to the 50th state. President Obama’s home state poses some cautionary realities to any sweeping overhaul of the nation’s health care system as Congress considers a similar federal requirement that businesses provide health insurance to employees.  Since the law passed 35 years ago, the percentage of uninsured in Hawaii has fallen to lower levels than nearly every other state, but there are coverage gaps.  And cost-conscious business owners avoid the law by hiring more part-time workers, who aren’t required to be covered…”

Tracking the recession: Lawmakers dreading end of stimulus dollars, By Stephen C. Fehr, July 27, 2009, Stateline.org: “Whether they welcomed or snubbed the federal economic stimulus package, state lawmakers took advantage of the bailout dollars this year to help patch their state’s shaky finances.  Now, as they start thinking ahead to next year’s budget and the 2010 elections, lawmakers are increasingly apprehensive about what will happen when the stimulus money dries up. They predict even deeper cuts in services, higher taxes and raids on rainy day funds to balance budgets…”

• Minimum wages to rise in 31 states, By Tony Romm, July 24, 2009, Stateline.org: “Minimum-wage earners in 31 states and the District of Columbia can soon expect slightly bigger paychecks thanks to the third and final installment of a federal rate hike that raises the wage floor from $6.55 an hour to $7.25 an hour effective Friday (July 24).  The latest federal bump will enlarge roughly 4.5 million workers’ paychecks by about four cents an hour in some states to almost $1 an hour in others, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research group in Washington, D.C. that supported the increase…”
• Some attack timing of minimum wage hike, By V. Dion Haynes and Emma L. Carew, July 24, 2009, Washington Post: “The federal minimum wage will rise to $7.25 from $6.55 an hour Friday, an increase aimed at giving workers at carwashes, restaurants, child-care centers and retail shops more buying power but one that has sparked criticism from some small-business owners, who say it could threaten their ability to survive in a weak economy…”
• Minimum-wage boost has mixed benefits, By Jonathan B. Cox, July 23, 2009, Charlotte News and Observer: “At Bojangles’ restaurants operated by the company’s largest franchise, a chicken biscuit costs a little more these days. So does the sweet tea. Those higher prices are because the people behind the counter are getting paid a little more…”
• Minimum wage hike could threaten low earners’ jobs, By Dionne Walker (AP), July 23, 2009, Seattle Times: “A federal minimum wage increase that takes effect Friday could prolong the recession, some economists say, by forcing small businesses to lay off the same workers that the pay hike passed in better times was meant to help.  The increase to $7.25 means 70 cents more an hour for the lowest-paid workers in the 30 states that have lower minimums or no minimum wage. It also means higher costs for employers who feel they’ve already trimmed all their operating fat…”

• States’ budget pain eclipses last recession, By Stephen C. Fehr and Daniel C. Vock, July 21, 2009, Stateline.org: “The current recession — now 19 months long and still going — already has forced states to deal with greater budget shortfalls than they faced in the five years it took them to recover from the last national recession after the 2001 terrorist attacks.  New figures from the National Conference of State Legislatures show that states scrambling to balance their budgets already have closed at least $268.6 billion in gaps between projected spending and revenues since the recession started in December 2007…”
• Safety net for poor, disabled in tatters after plan’s cuts, health care advocates say, By Ken Carlson, July 22, 2009, Modesto Bee: “As details of the state budget deal emerged this week, some health care advocates said the agreement cuts too deeply into safety net programs for the poor and disabled. According to one estimate, a $144 million budget cut to Healthy Families, the low-cost health insurance for the working poor, would result in denying coverage to almost 780,000 children in California…”
• California budget cuts deep into healthcare, schools, By Daniel B. Wood, July 21, 2009, Christian Science Monitor: “Deep cuts in government services including healthcare, prisons, and local government assistance are the likely results of the budget deal struck between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers after negotiations all day Monday. The California legislature will vote as early as Thursday on the deal to close the state’s $26.3 billion budget deficit…”

• Budget to reshape the Golden State, By Mitchell Landsberg, July 22, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “Students and the poor will notice the biggest changes from downscaling of the government.  Roads will be rougher, classrooms fuller and textbooks more tattered. The odds of encountering someone fresh out of prison will almost certainly be higher.  If the budget deal crafted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and top legislative leaders is passed by the Legislature and survives the inevitable court challenges, California will undergo perhaps the biggest downscaling of government in its history…”
• Cities vow to fight ‘reckless’ state budget proposal in court, By Denis C. Theriault and Ken McLaughlin, July 21, 2009, San Jose Mercury News: “The deal to balance California’s budget by relying heavily on a plan to transfer $4.4 billion in local tax revenue to Sacramento had cities and counties across the state crying foul Tuesday.  As more details emerged about the tax take-away — twice as large as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had initially sought — leaders from already-struggling South Bay cities were left facing a new round of budget cuts far steeper than most had anticipated…”
• California budget deal to sting schools and poor, By Sally Connell, July 21, 2009, San Luis Obispo Tribune: “Cuesta College students may see the cost for each unit they take increase from $20 to $26.  Public school officials are expecting that $6 billion in cuts statewide will translate into local school districts being unable to hire back employees who received layoff notices.  And the county’s working poor on welfare will see money cut for child care and for buying equipment and clothing they could use at a new job…”

• Texas averts crisis over extended unemployment benefits, By Dave Montgomery, July 21, 2009, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “The Texas Workforce Commission took emergency action Tuesday to continue unemployment assistance to as many as 15,000 jobless Texans who were in danger of exhausting their benefits by the end of the month…”
• Unemployment insurance a two-sided political issue for Perry, By Jason Embry, July 21, 2009, Austin American-Statesman: “Gov. Rick Perry’s opposition to federal stimulus dollars for unemployment benefits earlier this year boosted his standing among many Republicans. But other issues surrounding the state’s unemployment program could create political headaches for Perry in the next year and a half…”
• Texas leaders should reconsider the federal stimulus money, By Mitchell Schnurman, July 22, 2009, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “At what point does the real world trump politics and principle?  Texas is shaping up as a test case, because more than 23,000 workers are losing their jobs every week and $556 million in federal aid is sitting on the table, unclaimed.  Texas is one of only four states — the others are Alabama, Florida and Virginia — that rejected federal stimulus dollars connected with reforming unemployment insurance. Thirty-six states qualify for the federal money, including more than two dozen that adopted reforms this year, and the rest are still debating the issue…”

Medicaid and the states: Health-care reform’s next hurdle, By Karen Tumulty, July 21, 2009, Time Magazine: “Until the nation’s governors staged a public revolt last weekend, few people were paying attention to one of the most far-reaching proposals being considered as part of overhauling the health-care system: a dramatic expansion and redefinition of the Medicaid program. Redefining who is eligible for Medicaid would be one of the major means by which lawmakers hope to achieve universal health coverage — which is one of the reasons that governors, whose budgets are already straining under the program’s growing costs, are so wary of the idea…”

• UW-Madison profs help shape bold initiative for community colleges, By Todd Finkelmeyer, July 20, 2009, Capital Times: “A report released in May and co-authored by UW-Madison professors Sara Goldrick-Rab and Douglas Harris argued that community colleges are in need of significant government investment if the United States is to help more of its people get a formal education and better compete with others from around the globe for the best jobs…”
• Community colleges’ new clout, By Derrick Z. Jackson, July 18, 2009, Boston Globe: “For decades, American presidents lauded the working stiffs and immigrants who fill our community colleges, but then stiffed them during budget time. That ended this week when President Obama made one of his most welcome proposals of his first year, a $12 billion, 10-year plan to boost community colleges…”

• State plugs budget hole with Medicaid money, By Beth Musgrave, July 21, 2009, Lexington Herald-Leader: “The state was in the black for the fiscal year that ended June 30, but only because it received a loan from the Medicaid program, which had additional money from the federal stimulus program. Now state officials are trying to determine how much money state agencies will have to cut from this year’s budget, which began July 1…”
• CalWORKS: Is it costing too much?, By Steve Wiegand, July 19, 2009, Sacramento Bee: “It’s the kind of statistic that makes radio talk show hosts drool: California is home to about 12 percent of all Americans – and more than 30 percent of all Americans on welfare. Critics of the state’s welfare program, called CalWORKs, say it’s clear proof that the system is flabby and overly beneficent, particularly as compared to other states…”
• Governor, legislative leaders begin building support for their budget pact, By Evan Halper and Shane Goldmacher, July 21, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders will begin working today to line up votes for the budget agreement they reached Monday evening to close a $26.3-billion deficit and allow the state to begin paying all of its bills again…”
• Budget breakthrough solves California’s long fiscal nightmare, By Steven Harmon, July 20, 2009, Contra Costa Times: “A tense, months-long standoff over ever-shrinking resources gave way Monday to a deal to bridge California’s $26.3 billion deficit…”

Texas stalling on extended pay for jobless, critics say, By Robert T. Garrett, July 17, 2009, Dallas Morning News: “Critics say the Texas Workforce Commission has overstated the role that federal requirements played in delaying 13 more weeks of unemployment benefits for Texans who have been out of work more than a year.  Andrew Stettner of the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group for low-wage workers, said a requirement that the jobless document their work searches is a quarter-century old and has been partially waived by the Obama administration…”

Schwarzenegger proposes private, centralized system for public assistance eligibility, By Michael Rothfield, July 16, 2009, Los Angeles Times: A proposal that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been pushing in closed-door budget talks would tie the state, with little oversight or review, into a multibillion-dollar computer system likely to be run by the private sector to enroll low-income Californians in welfare, food stamp and healthcare programs.  A draft of the plan obtained by The Times shows that Schwarzenegger would replace existing county-run processes, which use four different computer systems across the state, with a single one. Administration officials say the new Internet-based system would allow them to save money on overhead and spend more on recipients…”

• State cuts could impact child-care subsidies, By Tiffany Aumann, July 11, 2009, Newark Advocate: “On Friday, parents and employees at Montessori Community School donned badges that read “I’m at work today because I have child care” and posed for photographs as part of a last-minute campaign to tell Ohio legislators they fear for the future of child-care access and quality under 2009-10 state budget proposals. Child-care advocates think budget cuts being considered could deeply hurt low-income families that receive subsidies, as well as the caregivers who watch the children each day…”
• Enrollment freeze for state’s low-income child care program, Healthy Families, By Lora Hines, July 16, 2009, Press-Enterprise: “Beginning today, California’s health care program for low-income children will freeze enrollment for the first time in its 10-year history because of the state’s ongoing budget crisis.  Healthy Families needs $90 million from the state to cover an estimated 1 million children whose parents earn too much to qualify for Medi-Cal and too little to afford insurance, according to California’s Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, which operates the program. That gap adds up to $270 million because the federal government kicks in $2 for every $1 the state spends on the program…”
• California’s needy may bear brunt of budget crisis, By Steve Gorman, July 15, 2009, US Daily: An ill-timed pregnancy and domestic abuse left Amanda Garcia facing a dire future last year at the prime of life, until California’s welfare-to-work program enabled her return to college after her baby was born.  Now the state’s budget crisis is clouding her second chance for a college degree and a professional career. Garcia, 19, who aspires to become a police officer and a lawyer, just learned this month that her childcare assistance may be stopped…”

• BadgerCare Plus expansion means adults without children are eligible, By Stacy Forster, July 14, 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Hundreds of Wisconsin residents who have previously been without health insurance will be covered Wednesday with the start of an expanded state health program, while thousands more are poised to be enrolled in coming weeks.  The expansion of the BadgerCare Plus program to adults without dependent children comes at a time when enrollment in state health care programs has exceeded 1 million participants for the first time. That’s about 18% of the state’s population…”
• Massachusetts takes a step back from health care for all, By Abby Goodnough, July 14, 2009, New York Times:  “The new state budget in Massachusetts eliminates health care coverage for some 30,000 legal immigrants to help close a growing deficit, reversing progress toward universal coverage just as Congress looks to the state as a model for overhauling the nation’s health care system.  The affected immigrants, permanent residents who have had green cards for less than five years, are now covered under Commonwealth Care, a subsidized insurance program for low-income residents that is central to the groundbreaking health care law enacted here in 2006…”

• Homelessness surges as rents soars, By Stephen Lunn, July 9, 2009, The Australian: “More families are being squeezed into homelessness by the high costs of private rental, but better support services have led to fewer teenagers on the streets.  A new report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare into Australia’s homeless finds numbers were on the march in Australia even before the global financial crisis hit home…”
• More sleeping rough in capitals, July 9, 2009, News.com.au: “The number of people sleeping rough on the streets of capital cities was on the rise before the financial crisis hit, a new report shows.  The number of homeless older Australians has also been increasing, new analysis by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) shows…”
• Govt pours money into help for homeless, By Susanna Dunkerley, July 7, 2009, Brisbane Times: “The Rudd government has poured millions of dollars into its plan to combat homelessness, amid criticism from the sector it had put it on the backburner.  The ambitious $800 million state and federal plan to halve homeless rates by 2020 was due to get off the ground last week…”

• Schwarzenegger’s welfare cuts angers Dems, By Judy Lin, July 8, 2009, San Francisco Chronicle: “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s insistence on cost-cutting measures to weed out what he has described as “waste, fraud and abuse” in California’s social service programs has struck a nerve with Democrats, welfare advocates and the frail…”
• Welfare-to-work program a target for state budget cuts, By Timm Herdt, July 9, 2009, Ventura County Star: “Renewing his insistence that policy changes must be part of any agreement to balance California’s budget and stop the flow of IOUs, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday put the spotlight on the state’s welfare-to-work program, which he called ‘the most generous of all the states’…”
• Critics say Schwarzenegger scapegoating the poor for budget problems, By Steven Harmon, July 9, 2009, Fremont Argus: “On the stump, as he tries to sell his deficit-cutting plan to voters, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has tried to show a softer side toward those who will get hit hardest, often returning to a variation of a line he rolled out in an address to the Legislature in May: ‘I see the pain in their eyes and hear the fear in their voice’…”

• Budget cuts hurt Ohio poor, By Mark Curnutte, July 6, 2009, Cincinnati Enquirer: “As Ohio lawmakers and Gov. Ted Strickland continue to wrangle over the state budget, county social service agencies are clear on one message: Further budget cuts are cutting into muscle, not bone, as the recession entangles more people in need of benefits…”
• Coalition defends CalWorks, which governor targets for cuts, By Duane W. Gang, July 7, 2009, Press-Enterprise: “A statewide coalition of counties pushed back against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday, saying a welfare-to-work program targeted for cuts is vital to boosting the state’s economic recovery.  Schwarzenegger earlier this year called for the elimination of CalWorks and, on Friday, said waste and fraud in the program and other social welfare efforts is contributing to the state’s fiscal woes…”

• Jobless feel effects of states’ stimulus rejection, By Ianthe Jeanne Dugan and Kris Maher, July 8, 2009, Wall Street Journal: “Latunga Childers lost her $8-an-hour job as a McDonald’s manager in April. Soon after, she opened an envelope from Alabama unemployment officials expecting to find a check.  Instead, there was a letter declaring her ineligible for benefits. Behind that letter was a complicated fight over the federal stimulus and the strings that come with it…”
• Report: States aren’t using stimulus funds as intended, By Matt Kelley, July 7, 2009, USA Today: “Under pressure to spend stimulus money quickly, many states are using the federal funds for short-term projects and to fill budget gaps rather than spending on long-term improvements, according to a report by congressional investigators…”
• States using stimulus to stay afloat, audit finds, By Kimberly Hefling (AP), July 7, 2009, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “The Obama administration hoped that $787 billion in stimulus spending would jump-start the economy, build schools and usher in an era of education reform. So far, many states are setting aside such grand plans and simply trying to stay afloat, government auditors say…”

• Lone parents to be offered better pay incentives to work, By Patrick Wintour, July 5, 2009, The Guardian: “Unemployed lone parents are to be offered increased pay incentives to work in a move which softens some of the most controversial measures in the welfare reform bill. It is one of a number of measures being taken by the work and pensions secretary, Yvette Cooper, that subtly change the emphasis pursued by her predecessor, James Purnell. She insists her changes are designed to protect the family. The government’s welfare reforms have created controversy, since they require lone parents with children as young as three to prepare for the world of work during the recession, or lose benefits…”
• Cutting benefits of single parents will increase number of kids in poverty, By Clinton Manning, July 8, 2009, The Daily Mirror: “Slashing benefits of single parents who don’t look for work will increase child poverty and family hardship, a report has warned.  Gingerbread, the charity that represents lone parents, wants ministers to abandon the “big stick” of benefit sanctions proposed in the Welfare Reform Bill…”

Advocates push to add attacks on homeless to Florida hate crimes law, By Anthony Man, July 7, 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel: “Horrified by video of teens who went on a rampage beating homeless men in downtown Fort Lauderdale, a state legislator was propelled to push for including attacks on the homeless to the state’s hate crimes law.  It is now state law — in Maryland — because state Sen. Alex Mooney, R-Md., saw what he termed “gruesome” video of the Fort Lauderdale incident. His state is the first to include homeless people as a protected group under its hate crimes statute…”

• States straining to repair budgets, By Peter Slevin, July 7, 2009, Washington Post: “Illinois has stopped paying $1,655 a funeral to bury the indigent dead. California is issuing IOUs in place of tax refunds. Ohio’s rainy-day fund has dwindled from nearly $1 billion to exactly 89 cents.  Nearly a week into the new budget year, all three states are stymied, unable to balance their books and unable to decide whether to fill the huge gaps with tax increases, spending cuts or both. Either way, it will hurt…”
• Budget nightmare: 10 most broke states, By Scott Mayerowitz and Nathalie Tadena, July 7, 2009, ABC News: “The economic problems of American families are now pounding many state governments which are in turn slashing services to balance their budgets in one of the most difficult years in decades.  High on the chopping block are benefits to the poor, money for education, highway repairs, hours that state offices are open and even closures of state parks and recreation areas…”

• State budget woes worsen as deadline arrives, By Deborah Tedford, July 1, 2009, National Public Radio: “States across the country got their 2010 fiscal years off to a bumpy start Wednesday, as some faced shutdowns with their budgets in limbo and others braced for deep cuts after passing bare-bones plans to deal with recession-driven revenue shortfalls…”
• Coffers empty, California pays with I.O.U.’s, By Jennifer Steinhauer, July 2, 2009, New York Times: “An ever-widening budget gap joined with intractable political paralysis to deliver California its biggest fiscal blow in decades on Thursday, when the state’s controller began printing i.o.u.’s in lieu of cash to pay taxpayers, vendors and local governments.   It was only the second time the state had adopted the emergency payment method since the Great Depression. The National Conference of State Legislatures had no record of any other state’s ever using them…”

• Down to the Wire: Dems say they have Medicaid deal; Barbour still must sign bills before deadline, By John Mott Coffey, June 30, 2009, Commercial Dispatch: “Legislative leaders expressed confidence the House and Senate today will finalize the state budget just hours before the new fiscal year begins at midnight. This would come after three days of cranking out more than 100 appropriation bills — including one for the Medicaid program that’s been the main sticking for months…”
• Miss. Medicaid bill headed to governor, By Natalie Chandler, June 30, 2009, Clarion Ledger: “A Medicaid funding plan has been approved tonight as state lawmakers continue a special legislative session at the state Capitol.  Lawmakers had to come to a quick agreement. Medicaid was set to expire at midnight unless they agreed to reauthorize the health-care program that serves nearly 600,000 lower-income Mississippians…”