States Stung by Last Recession Build Record Savings for Next One

The decade since the last recession has left U.S. states well prepared for the next one.

State governments are using the tax revenue thrown off by the record-long economic expansion to build up their savings accounts, pushing a key measure of their reserves to the highest on record, according to a report from the National Association of State Budget Officers. The median balance in state rainy-day funds was enough to cover about 7.6% of their general budgets in 2019, the most ever and up from 1.6% in 2010. They are expected to rise to 8% in the current fiscal ...