How will Indiana’s state budget do in the corona-recession? We don’t know how deep the recession will be, or how long it will last, so there’s not much point to predictions. But we can ask what sort of recession the budget can handle, and what sort would cause trouble.
Here are three questions. One, can we fully fund appropriations in the 2020-21 biennial budget? The budget passed in April 2019 set appropriations based on a revenue forecast. If actual revenues fall too far below that forecast, spending will have to be cut. Spending cuts revert to balances, so they’re called reversions.