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liz-farmer

Liz Farmer

Liz Farmer, who formerly covered fiscal policy as a Governing staff writer, helps lead the Pew Charitable Trusts’ state fiscal health project’s Fiscal 50 online resource, focusing on budgets, fiscal distress, tax policy and pensions. A former research fellow at the Rockefeller Institute of Government’s Future of Labor Research Center, Farmer holds a bachelor’s degree in American history, film and television production from George Washington University and a master’s in journalism from the University of Maryland.

A bill before the Alaska legislature would put defined benefits for state employees back in play after pension reform in the state cut out the option.
Unlike corporate bankruptcies, there’s so little precedent for cities filing for bankruptcy protection that case law is being written with each major decision.
Experts say that 2013 will be a minefield of uncertainty for investors as the tax debate in Congress and financial volatility at home raise questions about muni market stability.
Florida's high court ruled that pension contracts can be adjusted, weighing in on an issue that many believe will make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Economists predict a return to steady economic growth in the latter half of this decade but said inaction on Capitol Hill could reverse that.
New York’s local governments are increasingly turning to local tax revenue to make up for sluggish growth in federal and state aid, a trend that experts say is occurring across the country.
Some Virginia leaders are pushing to enroll new state employees to a 401k-style retirement plan as that state’s pension costs have soared and the pension’s funding has decreased.
The nation’s top business advocate said Thursday it was time for the federal government to “quit fooling around” with funding the transportation trust that fuels many state and local infrastructure projects and called for an increase in the gas tax.
Some analysts warn that states should start making contingency plans so they can continue dependably issuing transportation funding bonds.
Municipal bond issuers could be forced to call as much as a collective $150 billion in debt if a plan to limit tax deductions on that bond interest goes forward.