Pew Center report not meant to suggest budget remedies

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Updated 5:30 PM Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Report not meant to suggest remedy

The editorial, “Grass even less green across state’s borders,” Nov. 22, inaccurately characterizes the Pew Center on the States and our report, “Beyond California: States in Fiscal Peril.”

Consistent with Pew’s nonpartisan focus on states’ fiscal health, our report takes no position on how states should address their challenges — whether they should increase taxes, cut spending, or both to close their budget gaps.

Rather, using publicly available, widely accepted data, we examined the fiscal conditions of states and the ability of each one to pay for the priorities it has set for itself.

As the report makes clear, California and the nine other states we profiled face enormous economic challenges. In most of these 10 states, lawmakers’ latitude to respond to the fiscal crisis is restricted by their states’ constitutions, ballot measures passed by voters, or other statutory or legal impediments to change.

Our point is to illustrate that these restrictions tend to constrain the already-limited choices available to both policy makers and the public during a severe economic downturn.

Susan K. Urahn

Washington, D.C.

 Ms. Urahn is Managing Director  of the Pew Center on the States.

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