Fiscal Democracy in the States: How Much Spending is on Autopilot? analyzes how much spending was restricted or partially restricted in California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Texas, and Virginia from 2000 to 2015.

In this appendix, we document our data sources and methods, including reviews of research literature and credit analyst reports, state financial documents, and state and federal data sources.

We also provide the structured interview script and a list of our key informants whose expertise helped us draw a rich picture of budgeting practices across our six study states.

Finally, we provide supplemental background on each state, describing key restrictions including those that were too numerous or subjective to quantify, including those arising from special state funds, court-imposed obligations, and institutional or revenue-related restrictions.

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