The Pew Center on the States (PCS) has released — thru Stateline.org, a project of PCS –  its annual state legislative review for 2009.

Key points:

• Budgets overshadow social, political highlights
• States plug budget holes, for now
• Recession pounds states’ budgets

Some interesting statements:

State lawmakers this year made deep cuts, raised taxes, and borrowed funds to cover a staggering $215 billion in estimated budget gaps for 2009 and 2010—the equivalent of nearly $700 for every man, woman and child in the country.

Even with the federal stimulus package providing billions of dollars in assistance, states such as California, Kentucky, New York, Nevada and Washington struggled with their largest deficits in modern history.

Hat tip to DocuTicker.