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Journal Article
Will the tobacco settlement payments go up in smoke?
In December 1995, Massachusetts attorney general Scott Harshbarger filed a civil suit against the tobacco industry. The Commonwealths lawsuit charged that the tobacco industry had conducted research into the addictive properties of nicotine and used this research to willfully manipulate the nicotine level of cigarettes in order to addict smokers and increase cigarette sales. The lawsuit asked the court for damages to compensate the Commonwealth for expenditures paid to treat smoking-related illnesses. At the time this litigation was filed, Massachusetts was the fifth state in the nation to ...
Journal Article
How will future aid cuts affect New England's public sector?
Journal Article
How will New Hampshire solve its school funding problem?: part 3 of 3
Ever since the New Hampshire Supreme Court decided in Claremont II that the local property tax used to fund K-12 public education was unconstitutional, policymakers have struggled to find a permanent solution to the school finance problem. In June 2001, after a rancorous two-year public debate, and nearly four years after the Claremont II decision, policymakers enacted a second plan that made the statewide property tax permanent and added sufficient supplemental revenues to finance the legislature's definition of the amount required to fund an "adequate" education. However, the school ...
Journal Article
Six-state review
It appears that most New England states can look forward to a year in which revenues may equal or exceed budgeted levels.
Journal Article
The federal Medicare prescription drug bill plan: its implications for the New England states
The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 contains several provisions that carry significant fiscal implications for the New England states. Chief among these is the new laws treatment of individuals eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid.
Journal Article
The rising cost of operating state prisons
Journal Article
Securitizing tobacco settlements: the basics, the benefits, the risks
In this time of fiscal hardship for American states, governors and legislators across the country are searching for ways to make up for revenue shortfalls. Partly because of the severity of the revenue crisis, innovative and unconventional means of raising cash have begun to surface. One of these approaches, the topic of this article, is the securitization of tobacco settlement revenues.
Journal Article
Fuzzy federal funds stymie governors' planning