It might not come as a surprise that California appeared on the Pew Center on the States’ list of the states in the worst financial trouble. But there are other states on the list that you might not have expected to see:
Pew listed some other states in financial trouble [PDF]:
York and Hawaii. . . . New York’s revenue decline, for example, was steeper in the first quarter of 2009 than in all but four states, and its fiscal year 2010 budget gap was sixth-worst in the nation. In fact, all but two states, Montana and North Dakota, confronted budget shortfalls for fiscal year 2010, with some facing their largest deficits in modern history.”
The study looked at six factors:
- High foreclosure rates
- Increasing joblessness
- Loss of state revenues
- The relative size of budget gaps
- Legal obstacles to balanced budgets — “specifically, a supermajority requirement for some or all tax increases or budget bills.”
- Poor money-management practices