Maryland isn’t the only state with budget issues this year.
Worsening budget shortfalls will prompt many lawmakers in other states to ask a basic question when they return to work in January: What must government provide its citizens?
In all but a handful of states, that list is already growing shorter, resulting in fewer health benefits for the poor, the closure of parks and recreation centers and more inmates being crammed into ever-more crowded prisons.
Demand is simultaneously on the rise for Medicaid, food stamps and unemployment benefits even as the delivery of these and other services is complicated by recent layoffs or furloughs for tens of thousands of state employees.
“This is shaping up as the worst year for the states since the [Second World] War,” said Arturo Perez, a fiscal analyst for the National Conference of State Legislatures.
– AP
