NEW ORLEANS A new report from the National Conference of State Legislatures says the aggregate budgets of all 50 states were $40 billion out of balance in June, more than three times the corresponding figure for a year ago, and the states financial woes are much more widespread than in fiscal 2008.

More than one-third of the $40 billion deficit is attributable to one state California, of course.

Most states, with the notable exception of California, appear to be making progress on closing their budget gaps and, heres the best part, doing it without big tax increases for businesses.

California, with its whopping $15 billion deficit, is having more difficulty closing its budget gap.

The majority of states that need more money are getting it by reducing spending or spending the reserves they built earlier in the decade. About one quarter of the states have frozen state hiring or actually cut employees.

Very few states are raising taxes.

At the same time, states with natural resources are doing very well.

To read the state budget report, go to www.ncsl.org.

Meanwhile, a report issued by the Rockefeller Institute of Government, part of the State University of New York, broadly agrees with NCSLs conclusions that state budgets are in trouble.

During the first quarter of this year, nominal state tax revenues rose by 1.7 percent, the slowest growth rate in five years. Adjusted for inflation, revenues have been down three quarters in a row. For the past nine years, average state revenue increases have been nearly 5 percent per quarter.

The institute does not see things getting much better for the states this calendar year. It points out, however, that some regions are better off than others, with New England tax revenues as a whole growing the fastest, and states with oil and gas, such as Alaska and North Dakota, doing particularly well.

State budgets in places with the worst housing markets are, in general, among those doing the worst.

The institute report can be found at www.rockinst.org.