LANSING – While legislative leaders and the administration of Governor Jennifer Granholm are working through the two-week break to develop agreements on the 2009-10 budget, their colleagues across the nation are struggling to bring their various budget issues to heel.

Wednesday was the first day of the 2009-10 fiscal year for most states in the nation (since the mid-1970s Michigan’s fiscal year has gone from October 1 to September 30), and in at least three major states the new fiscal year broke with no budget agreement and no ongoing authority to spend money.

In California, Illinois and Pennsylvania, lawmakers and their governors failed to reach final agreements on budgets.

In California, the state began on Wednesday to send out IOUs to its various contractors after legislators failed to enact a measure that would have imposed $5 billion in cuts, including $3.3 billion in education cuts.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a fiscal emergency in order to force the Legislature back into session to resolve the budget issue.

In Pennsylvania, Governor Ed Rendell has said it could take as much as two months for the Legislature to complete work on the budget, but that state workers would continue on duty even though in a few weeks they would not see any pay. The Pennsylvania employee’s credit union is offering low-interest loans to help workers through the period. In 2007, state government closed down briefly in Pennsylvania when lawmakers could not agree on a budget.

In Illinois, there is no budget and no agreement on when lawmakers would return to Springfield to try to resolve the budget issues. Governor Pat Quinn is still pushing for a tax increase in that state.

In Ohio, lawmakers agreed to a seven-day extension of the budget, with funding for most agencies at 30 percent less than the previous fiscal year. In that state, a standoff exists between Democratic Governor Ted Stickland and legislative Republican leaders over putting slot machines in at racetracks.

Connecticut’s governor signed an executive order keeping state operations underway as lawmakers there failed to reach accord on a budget by the deadline.

Indiana lawmakers avoided a potential government shutdown by delivering a budget to Governor Mitch Daniels who signed it almost immediately. But schools and universities in the Hoosier state are bemoaning a document that leaves them with no increases. While most states have at least once missed a budget deadline, even by a few hours, Indiana has not missed a budget deadline since 1887.

Minnesota has sent its spending bills to Governor Tim Pawlenty, but he has held off signing legislation that actually balances that state’s budget and has indicated he might “unallocate” more than $2 billion.

Delaware’s governor finally signed its 2009-10 budget into law at 4:30 a.m., Wednesday morning.

In Mississippi lawmakers have enacted all parts of the budget except for funding for its utility regulation department.

In Washington, a budget is in place, but as many 3,200 state workers worry they could be laid off.

And some states that enacted their budgets sometime ago are looking at making more budget changes. In Kansas, for example, the governor is already warning that budget cuts will be needed because revenues have fallen far short of expectations.

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