{"title":"Montana’s Hard Right Turn","authors":"Paul Haber","doi":"10.5070/p2cjpp14157315","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5070/p2cjpp14157315","url":null,"abstract":"Budgets, combined with tax policy, provide rich evidence of the applied values of legislative bodies and executives. This paper evaluates budget and tax legislation in Montana that resulted from the 67th legislative session in 2021 that set policy for the 2023 biennium. Montana, whose political complexation has long been purple, moved unambiguously red in the elections of November 2020. This paper speaks to how this changed things in Montana's public policy, in the areas of budget and tax, and a series of other policy areas. One of the more notable findings is that while budget and tax certainly shifted right with the dominance of the Republican Party that itself has moved further right than where it was as recently as 2019, it did not move as far right as many observers had anticipated. The explanation provided here is that this was largely a result of the large infusion of federal COVID relief funds.","PeriodicalId":89903,"journal":{"name":"California journal of politics and policy","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49545885","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Muddling Through: Alaska’s Budget Process in 2021","authors":"Glenn Wright","doi":"10.5070/p2cjpp14157310","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5070/p2cjpp14157310","url":null,"abstract":"In 2021, the State of Alaska faced substantial challenges due to the public health and economic impacts of COVID-19. COVID damaged Alaska's state revenues by driving down global oil prices. COVID also harmed the state's economy more broadly, with substantial impacts on some extractive industries and tourism. However, Alaska's budgetary problems-high expenditures and low revenues-long predate COVID and are related to Alaska's historical dependence on fossil fuel extraction for state revenue. Alaska's budget situation has improved somewhat through 2021 as oil prices have risen globally, though this may also complicate budgetary debates in Spring 2022.","PeriodicalId":89903,"journal":{"name":"California journal of politics and policy","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41773829","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Colorado’s Political Climate, Economy, and Budget during COVID-19","authors":"Michael J. Berry","doi":"10.5070/p2cjpp14157312","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5070/p2cjpp14157312","url":null,"abstract":"The COVID-19 pandemic was a monumental exogeneous shock to the Colorado economy. Prior to the pandemic's onset the state reported historically low unemployment alongside robust growth in personal income levels and state revenue. While the negative economic effects of the pandemic were sharp, the state's economic recovery is outpacing what many economists previously projected. The General Assembly was compelled to impose major cuts to last year's budget, many of which were restored with the enactment of the budget for the 2021-2022 fiscal year. The General Fund budget of $13.6 billion proposed by Democratic Governor Jared Polis represented a substantial spending increase of 20 percent from the prior year. The enacted $13.1 billion General Fund budget received nearly unanimous approval among Democrats and modest Republican support. Policymakers ultimately sought to balance competing priorities across many issue areas, while also preparing for the future with a major investment of $1.5 billion to the state's reserve fund.","PeriodicalId":89903,"journal":{"name":"California journal of politics and policy","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47955976","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Year Without Tourism: Hawai‘i’s FY2022 Pandemic Budget","authors":"C. Moore","doi":"10.5070/p2cjpp14157313","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5070/p2cjpp14157313","url":null,"abstract":"Hawai'i's economy was devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The effective closure of the tourism industry created an unemployment crisis and led to a dramatic decline in tax revenues. Nevertheless, Hawai'i managed to avoid mass layoffs of public employees and draconian cuts in public services because of federal relief funds. The $15.9 billion budget for FY2022 restored funding to most departments, but the state's dependence on the visitor industry has left it particularly vulnerable to future pandemic travel restrictions.","PeriodicalId":89903,"journal":{"name":"California journal of politics and policy","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48272196","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"New Mexico’s Box of Pandoras","authors":"Kim Seckler","doi":"10.5070/p2cjpp14157316","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5070/p2cjpp14157316","url":null,"abstract":"In the spring of 2020, the global coronavirus pandemic brought deadly disease to New Mexico, a state already struggling with inadequate health care, vulnerable populations and an unreliable state revenue base. A strong executive and mostly willing legislature met multiple times in multiple special sessions to reduce budgets, allocate federal funds, and shore up public finances. They also had to deal with social and cultural fights aggravated by strict public health orders and plunging revenues. By the close of 2020, the state was slowly regaining its fiscal footing and physical health, though the underlying problems of inadequate health care, educational and economic inequality, and a budget overly reliant on extractive industries remain. As a result of the 2020 general election, the public officials chosen to resolve these issues are more likely to be progressive Democrats, more likely to be women, and more demographically reflective of the majority-minority state they call home.","PeriodicalId":89903,"journal":{"name":"California journal of politics and policy","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45919654","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Time for a Significant Reimagining of Government in Wyoming?","authors":"R. Schuhmann, Jeffrey L. Jensen","doi":"10.5070/p2cjpp14157319","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5070/p2cjpp14157319","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":89903,"journal":{"name":"California journal of politics and policy","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43801478","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Oregon 2020-21: Budgeting During COVID","authors":"Mark Henkels, B. Steel","doi":"10.5070/p2cjpp14157322","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5070/p2cjpp14157322","url":null,"abstract":"Oregon in 2020 and 2021 resembled other Western states: crisis on crisis. COVID, the COVID recession, forest fires and ice storms, and polarized politics dominated the news. Despite these challenges, the state's fiscal situation turned out very positively. President Biden's American Rescue Plan and the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed in November 2021 provided many billions to the state for 2021 and will cover diverse infrastructure needs over the next five years. This paper analyzes the surprisingly strong general fund and federal fund situations created by the COVID era and considers the political implications of the state's fiscal situation.","PeriodicalId":89903,"journal":{"name":"California journal of politics and policy","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43927666","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Idaho FY22: Recommendations, Appropriations, and Partisanship","authors":"A. Dimand, Elizabeth D. Fredericksen","doi":"10.5070/p2cjpp14157314","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5070/p2cjpp14157314","url":null,"abstract":"This paper presents an overview of the State of Idaho's FY 2022 budget recommendations and appropriations in the context of demographic changes, economic conditions, and politics. The Executive Budget for FY 2022 notes Governor Little's historical support of education, job growth, economic opportunity, and fostering an environment for Idaho to avoid citizen migration to other states. However, this policy, along with the COVID-19 exodus, has resulted in a large influx of people from other states with the commensurate housing and infrastructure demands. As most Idaho budgets tend to move incrementally in support of education and infrastructure in the context of very healthy revenues, the state is likely to weather, though with some ambivalence, economic fluctuations. However, partisan tensions threaten education and safety net programming.","PeriodicalId":89903,"journal":{"name":"California journal of politics and policy","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46039669","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Don’t Go Chasing Windfalls: California’s 2021-2022 Budget","authors":"Brian S. DiSarro, Wesley Hussey","doi":"10.5070/p2cjpp14157311","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5070/p2cjpp14157311","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":89903,"journal":{"name":"California journal of politics and policy","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47284195","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}