Idea of the Week: A “Lost Decade” for the States?
Feb 25, 2010
In his memorandum to the nation’s governors in preparation for the National Governors Association’s (NGA) winter meetings in Washington last week, Ray Scheppach, the NGA’s former executive director, warned that the severity of the recent recession, the slowness of the recovery, and the additional responsibilities that states have been required to assume for Medicaid and other benefits could lead to a “lost decade” for the states.
In conjunction with the meeting, the NGA’s Center for Best Practices released the report The Big Reset: State Government after the Great Recession. The report sets forth a grim scenario of cuts in critical welfare programs and benefits, and layoffs. The report also predicts that states will be forced into years of budget cutting, selling state assets (both equipment and real estate), and reorganizing and combining agencies and school districts.