An Overview of the New and Improved Fiscal 50

Editor’s note: This event was updated on May 31, 2024, to replace a garbled sentence.

In recent years, state governments have been on a roller coaster: a pandemic-induced recession followed by record revenue growth, unprecedented federal funding, and rapidly rising inflation. Now budget conditions are tightening and federal pandemic aid is winding down. And that will require policymakers to make some tough decisions.

On May 22, experts from The Pew Charitable Trusts provided an online overview of a major update to Fiscal 50, an interactive platform launched in 2013 that provides timely data on and analysis of state fiscal conditions. They also discussed recent trends.

The new Fiscal 50 allows readers to view, sort, and analyze data on key trends shaping states’ fiscal health now and over the long term. It also includes Pew’s research and analysis to help users understand how these trends interact—and how they relate to real-time developments unfolding in state capitols throughout the country .

Below is the overview session’s agenda:

• Welcome and introduction from Kil Huh, senior vice president and head of government performance at Pew.
• Walk-through of the new platform.
• “State of the states” moderated discussion with the Fiscal 50 team.
• Q&A.

Moderator

Juliette Tennert, senior adviser, University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute

The Fiscal 50 team

Joanna Biernacka-Lievestro, manager

Alexandre Fall, senior associate

Liz Farmer, officer

Page Forrest, senior associate

Riley Judd, associate

Melissa Maynard, project director

Justin Theal, officer