State budgets in jeopardy as nation nears 'fiscal cliff' - Graham Vyse, NBC

As the Virginia Senate Finance Committee’s staff director, she’s preparing for the impact of what’s known as the “fiscal cliff,” a $607 billion bundle of federal tax increases and automatic spending cuts that could savage state budgets – and return the nation to recession – beginning in first days of 2013. Unlike most states, Virginia has a $30 million emergency fund set aside to soften the blow of this massive budget contraction, but Daley and her colleagues in state government are still anxious. That uncertainty is being felt in state capitals nationwide, according to Jeff Hurley, a senior policy specialist at the National Conference of State Legislatures. http://www.nbcnews.com/business/state-budgets-jeopardy-nation-nears-fiscal-cliff-1C6647258