Delaware
Educators, Business Leaders Debate Teacher Pay
Educators, policy makers, and business leaders joined experts from across the nation in Dover last weekend as part of an education conference exploring ways to link teacher pay and student achievement. Many of the stakeholders who attended are also taking part in Vision 2015, a $100 million-plus reform plan released last year to rework Delaware's school system into a world leader by 2015. The initiative recommends including more school time for children, a curriculum overhaul, and new pay scale and performance standards for teachers.
Source: The News Journal

Maryland
House Passes $1.4 Billion Tax Plan
House lawmakers passed a $1.4 billion tax plan after a long weekend of debates in which leaders of the Democrat-controlled General Assembly scrambled to find support for the plan. The legislation includes increases in the sales tax and corporate income tax, a restructuring of the personal income tax, and $450 million in spending on transportation projects. The plan does not include a gas-tax increase or an expansion of the sales tax to include services, which were among the earlier proposals.
Source: The Washington Times

Florida
Economists Predict Decline in Property Values
The Florida economy is plummeting and there are signs it will worsen, according to the state government's chief economists, who late last week predicted that property values for homes and businesses will start decreasing in 2008 for the first time in recent history. The devaluation of existing properties—estimated at nearly 3%—would mark a major about-face for Florida's real-estate-based economy, which saw double-digit increases in value from 2003 to 2006.
Source: The Miami Herald

South Carolina
State Meeting Current Budget Projections
State economic advisers said projections for this year's $7.1 billion state budget are "right on target," but they warn an economic slowdown is coming. An infusion of cash in October erased a three-month deficit and put the state $13 million ahead for 2007-08, said South Carolina's chief economist, Bill Gillespie. However, Medicaid growth, required education increases, and projects put into the budget with one-time money could cause a short-term slowdown, economists cautioned.
Source: Associated Press

Indiana
Governor Seeks Business Support for Tax Cap
Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) told Northwest Indiana business leaders that the state is preparing to lift the local tax burdens off their backs. Daniels gave a breakfast address to the Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce to drum up support for his plan to permanently cap property taxes at 1% assessed value for homesteads, 2% for rental properties, and 3% for business. Daniels said that while business taxes will be higher than other property taxes under his plan, the cap on taxes would become a permanent feature of the state's constitution. "That would bring clarity and certainty for business," he said.
Source: The Northwest Indiana Times

Michigan
House Approves Business Levy to Replace Service Tax
A plan to kill Michigan's service tax and replace it with a surcharge on the state's new business levy won House approval late last week. The Democrat-controlled House voted 58-48—mostly along party lines—in favor of the bill, which tacks a 33% tax onto the gross sales of medium and large businesses but scraps a previously passed measure to expand the 6% state sales tax to a mixed bag of services. The surcharge would be added to the Michigan Business Tax, which replaces the former Single Business Tax and goes on the books Jan. 1.
Source: The Detroit News

Idaho
China Trade Trip Leads to Two Business Orders
Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter's (R) recently completed 10-day trade mission to China has led to a pair of deals for Idaho businesses, including $1.5 million in alfalfa hay and a $300,000 order for pork products, according to Otter's office. Otter also said that contacts made during the trip are among the most valuable accomplishments of the trade mission, which stopped in Beijing, Harbin, Shanghai, and Shenzhen.
Source: Associated Press

Nevada
State Small Business Wages Surpass National Average
A surge in pay among small businesses in Nevada has pushed the state's average small-company wage past the national average, a new study found. SurePayroll, a paycheck-services company, found that the average salary among Nevada companies with 100 or fewer workers has jumped 14.8% since December, to about $32,900 at the end of October. That's higher than the national average of just less than $32,500.
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal