Ear to the Ground - State News Roundup

Texas Gov. Rick Perry warned state lawmakers Wednesday to hold the line on government spending and resist any temptations to raise taxes, saying the "worst thing we could do is raise your taxes right now."

A tourism-killing proposal to give Montgomery County commissioners permission to levy up to an additional 4 percent lodgings tax appears doomed in the Ohio Senate

A survey of New Yorkers on Gov. Paterson's shameless tax-grab is opposed by 56% of voters, with only 26% in support. By a 74 percent to 15 percent, they told the pollsters that public-employee unions could be doing more to close the budget gap.

Massachusetts lawmakers are considering toll hikes and gas taxes, potentially adding hundreds of dollars per year to the cost of many commutes. An activist dressed as a chicken showed up at the morning hearing on Beacon Hill to protest Governor Deval Patrick's decision not to meet with an anti-toll group called Stop the Pike Hike. Yet Gov. Deval is refusing to address the states overspending problem, saying close ties to President-elect Barack Obama could position the state for an “historic” windfall in a 32 page request to grab Federal Cash

Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell is calling the state legislature into special session on Jan. 2 to vote on her second "deficit-mitigation" plan.

California commuters are likely to be slugged with $5 tolls on the Bay

Arizona Senate President-elect Bob Burns, R-Peoria, and House Speaker-elect Kirk Adams, R-Mesa, issued a joint statement Wednesday calling on Gov Napolitano to hold off on her unprecedented executive order that would give public sector labor unions a heavier hand at the negotiation table with state agencies