Last week, the Pew Charitable Trusts published a series of five articles “examining key debates that will unfold in the nation’s statehouses in the year ahead.”

Taken together, this series contains a goldmine of information. Following are the topics, followed by the general thesis that each explores. Follow the links to get all the details from these articles:  

• Lawmakers Face Budget Crunches, Tough Decisions to Close Expected Shortfalls, by Josh Goodman: “After two years of relative stability, 2025 marks an inflection point for many state budgets. Although tax revenue has declined nationwide since the record highs of 2021 and 2022, most states had large surpluses and leftover federal aid that helped lawmakers pass budgets with a minimum of fuss in 2023 and 2024. Now, however, lawmakers face tougher budget decisions as the post-pandemic transition period ends.”

• More EVs, Weakening Gas Tax Revenue Create State Transportation Budget Issues by Liz Farmer, Fatima Yousefi and Mollie Mills: “Transportation funds in many states are running low and the next few years will be critical to their future sustainability. Policymakers in some statehouses will have to act fast as their funds face imminent deficits. Others show longer-term funding gaps that will only grow if unaddressed.”

• States Governments Seek to Leverage AI’s Promise While Mitigating its Hazards, by  Melissa Maynard: “As states move from studying generative artificial intelligence to actively deploying it, the benefits and risks of integrating this rapidly evolving technology into government operations are starting to become clearer—with the potential for wide-ranging fiscal implications on both sides of the budget ledger.”

• Competing Forces Complicate State Education Funding, by Alexandre Fall and Page Forrest: “Debates about how to approach public school funding are reaching a boiling point nationwide. Although the pressures have been building for years, the $190 billion in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Program funding from the federal government and the wave of state tax revenue have masked the difficulties surrounding K-12 funding.”

• States Embrace Diverse Strategies to Ease Housing Supply Constraints by Kery Murakami: High housing costs continue to be a major concern among Americans, and in the coming months, state lawmakers can build on bipartisan approaches taken last year to ease the nation’s housing shortage, a key driver of soaring rents and home prices. In 2024, states passed 50 bills aimed at increasing housing production, according to George Mason University’s Mercatus Center—20 more than over the same period in 2023.”

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