National Organizations and Federal Agencies

This is an association of budget and public finance professors and graduate students from schools of public administration and policy in the US and abroad. A section of the American Association of Public Administration, it promotes academic research and serves as a network for current and former state and local budget officials. A periodic newsletter, Line Item, provides both organizational news and updates on relevant publications from other sources. The association also publishes the quarterly Public Budgeting & Finance Journal.

Sponsored by the Lucy Burns Institute, a nonprofit organization in Madison, Wisconsin, and describing itself as an encyclopedia of American politics, Ballotpedia provides political and election coverage, along with budget and finance information across all fifty states. It closely follows initiatives and referendums and offers basic financial data and credit information on each state.

A Washington, D.C.-based-based public policy research organization, Brookings provides coverage of policy and fiscal challenges on a local, national, and international level. A state and local finance section includes research on state pensions and debt, and the group cosponsors an annual municipal finance conference with Brandeis and Washington universities.

A Washington, D.C.-based public policy research organization with a limited-government, free-market perspective. State and local fiscal policy are among its research topics.

This research and policy organization focuses on budget and tax issues, reducing poverty, and supporting efforts to improve the lives of low- and moderate-income individuals. The Washington, D.C.-based group’s reports have covered budget planning and improving estimates of costs and revenues. Through its States Priorities Partnership, the CBPP works with budget-focused state organizations that have similar policy goals

The center partners with the National Association of State Retirement Administrators and the Center for State & Local Government Excellence in producing the Public Funds Database, which includes a wide variety of data for more than 150 state and local retirement plans. The center also provides research briefs on pension- and retiree health-related issues. Pension reform briefs are available for some states.

This research organization focuses on workforce issues, including the need to recruit and retain strong employees for state and local government, and the costs associated with the health and retirement benefits that are part of public sector total compensation. The center has published extensively on pension benefits and funding and on other compensation issues. The Washington, D.C.-based organization collaborates with the National Association of State Retirement Administrators and the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College to produce the Public Funds Database. Reports have also focused on retiree health costs and the cost of health benefits for current employees.

Housed at George Mason University’s School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs in Arlington, Virginia, the center is a research and teaching hub that focuses on state and local governance and intergovernmental relations. It follows and analyzes fiscal stress on municipalities and chronicles efforts to achieve fiscal sustainability, both in Virginia and nationally. It publishes a daily blog, The GMU Municipal Sustainability Project.

A research and advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C., CTJ focuses on tax policies at the federal, state and local levels. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) is a partner organization.

Based in Alexandria, Virginia, this national association of state chambers of commerce and their leaders follows state budget and tax policies, particularly as they affect businesses. The council website also has links to individual state chambers, which generally offer local coverage of budget and other fiscal issues.

This Washington, D.C.-based organization helps subscribing states by providing reports that summarize congressional actions, follow federal grant opportunities, and analyze the impact of federal budgetary decisions on states, which receive about 30 percent of their funding from the federal government. Most information is only for paying users, but a small portion is available for free, including a primer on federal grants, a table showing federal funding for major programs, and links to other federal and state budget information sources.

Based in Alexandria, Virginia, the organization focuses on government transparency, accountability, and fiscal responsibility. Its Watchdog.org project has a mission “to restore oversight of our state governments.” Eight states – Colorado, Florida, Mississippi, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont, and Wisconsin -- are covered more intensely, with less frequent reporting on 21 others.

A national policy research center, this Washington, D.C.-based organization promotes corporate and government accountability in economic development, with a focus on accurate and complete reporting on tax subsidies and the promulgation of best practices.

A joint initiative of Governing magazine and its parent company, e.Republic, the Washington, D.C.-based institute often covers topics that are relevant to state budget and finance, including recent commentaries on funding infrastructure.

The magazine of state and local government covers state budgeting and finance issues.

Based in Norwalk, Connecticut, GASB establishes accounting and financial reporting standards for states and local governments that follow Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. GASB is overseen by the Financial Accounting Standards Foundation.

This research organization works on federal, state, and local tax policy issues. Its website features a map with links to tax-related information from each state. ITEP is based in Washington, D.C.; Citizens for Tax Justice is a partner organization.

The institute is based at the University of California, Berkeley. The Just Public Finance” of its website produces and reports on research across the states and internationally concerning public finance, global financial systems, and debt and credit issues.

The school, based in Columbia, publishes the American Review of Public Administration, which covers budgeting and financial management, as well as many other topics relating to public administration and management.

Arlington, Virginia-based Mercatus describes itself as bridging the gap between “academic ideas and real world problems,” with a focus on how markets solve problems. Recent reports have included such subjects as the Puerto Rican fiscal crisis, Medicaid provider taxes, and state pension funding. Economic and fiscal research includes annual rankings of state solvency and data on federal spending on states.

With a network of state and local lobbyists, this Alexandria, Virginia-based organization provides coverage of state legislative actions, with attention to budget and other fiscal issues that may affect companies and trade associations. Links are provided to state government and legislative websites, gubernatorial state of the state addresses, and other state and local government information.

Based in Washington, D.C., the board is the US municipal bond market’s self-regulator. Funding is largely provided by assessments on municipal security brokers, dealers and advisors.

This Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board website provides prices, bond offering statements, and other municipal bond data. Many free resources are available, including credit agencies’ ratings and other information on thousands of state and local debt issuers.

Described as a hub for municipal research, this website, produced by Hindsdale, Illinois-based MuniNet LLC, provides comprehensive coverage of municipal finance, defaults, fiscal distress, pensions, and infrastructure. Demographic, employment, and other information is available on each state through a clickable map, with the state pages leading to further information on cities and counties.

The nonprofit NBER is the arbiter of US business cycle dates and conducts and disseminates economic research that often touches on state revenue and spending issues. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based bureau’s researchers include more than 1,400 economics and business professors from U.S. colleges and universities. Recent papers have looked at the fiscal cost of hurricanes and the economic impact of greater Medicaid spending.

This not-for-profit membership association in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, promotes professionalism among credit analysts, provides education and a vehicle for information sharing and seeks to improve issuer disclosure through the publication of best practices. A newsletter is published three times a year and a directory provides links to regional municipal analyst groups.

Based at the State University of New York at Albany, the institute is a primary source of data on US state revenues, expenditures, budgets, and fiscal trends. Reports on a variety of fiscal and other topics are issued frequently and have recently included reports on gambling, the decline in oil and coal prices, slowing state tax revenues and public pension investment performance. The institute tracks state revenues and has published several reports on revenue estimating in conjunction with The Pew Charitable Trusts. Other topics included in its state and local finance work include pension reform, education finance, health care finance and fiscal trends.

The Washington, D.C.-based Trusts’ government performance division, previously known as the Pew Center on the States, has a unit devoted to state fiscal health. Its work has included 50-state pension studies, reports on rainy day funds and revenue volatility, and a focus on the state-local fiscal relationship. Its Fiscal Fifty interactive web tool provides a way to compare states on a variety of topics including changes in state spending, revenue volatility and long-term costs. Several reports have also focused on revenue estimating, in conjunction with the Rockefeller Institute.

Pew’s state news service provides daily reporting and analysis of state policy, with strong attention to fiscal topics.

The LaFollete School has had a long-term commitment to the development and analysis of public finance policies. A state policy report is published twice a year.

The Arlington, Virginia-based network concentrates on policy issues associated with limited government and free market principles. It supports affiliate state-level organizations that often comment on budget and other fiscal issues.

The largest state and local government affairs firm, this Arlington, Virginia-based company monitors fiscal and policy issues for clients as well as providing other state-related services. Among the free resources on its website that are useful to a broader audience are: major state-by-state legislative dates, information on party makeup, names of top state political officeholders, weekly notes on state legislative activity, and news on state and local elections.

Based at Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina, the institute conducts public policy research covering local, regional, state, and national issues, including analysis relating to the economy, taxes, and other fiscal topics.

Research, education and public events at the Cambridge, Massachusetts based center are focused on improving state, city, and metropolitan area governance; some issue briefs and working papers cover fiscal topics.

This Chicago-based organization aims to increase understanding of each state’s fiscal situation through the pursuit of understandable and transparent government disclosure. It publishes annual assessments of each state and keeps a lookout for accounting gimmicks that can compromise the integrity and transparency of state budgets. The organization compiles voluminous state budget and financial data, much of it behind a paywall, as well as demographic information, that viewers can use to create their own charts and graphs in its State Data Lab.

Initially focused on California, this nonprofit organization based in Mountain View has expanded to cover all fifty states, providing research and data to help users analyze finances for multiple levels of government. Website features include govrank.org, a data portal that can be filtered based on topic and source; an archive of state and local financial documents; and assessments of state performance. Research examines budget balance, asset flexibility and pension funding.

This Washington, D.C., center is a partnership between the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution. It provides national expertise in tax, budget, and policy issues with some attention to state and local budgets and taxes.

Based in Washington, D.C., the institute conducts National, state, and local economic and policy research on topics including budget, tax, municipal debt, and other topics related to finance and performance.

The Volcker Alliance was launched in 2013 by former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul A. Volcker to address the challenge of effective execution of public policies and to help rebuild public trust in government. The nonpartisan Alliance works toward that broad objective by partnering with other organizations—academic, business, governmental, and public interest—to strengthen professional education for public service, conduct needed research on government performance, and improve the efficiency and accountability of governmental organization at the federal, state, and local levels. The Alliance website’s state and local section provides reports and blogs on state budget issues.