Powers Federalism: National, State, and Local · Federalism promotes unity without imposing...

Federalism: National, State, and LocalPowersHow does power flow through our federal system of government?

Vocabulary

Glossary VocabularyCards

expressed powers

interstate commerce

intrastate commerce

unfunded mandate

devolution

apportionment

gerrymandering

redistricting

Introduction

F E D E R A L I S M : N A T I O N A L...

2020 Teachers' Curriculum Institute Level: A

Each state is represented byits own distinct flag. Moststate flags fly next to orbelow the national flag,symbolic of how the federalgovernment supersedes stategovernments.

You might not expect the gray wolf to be involved in a power strugglebetween the national government and state wildlife agencies. Underour federal system of government, states traditionally exercised controlover wildlife within their borders. Wolves were universally viewed asthreats to people and livestock. In fact, many states paid residents abounty, or reward, for every wolf they killed. As a result, by the mid-1900s, wolves had all but disappeared from every state except Alaska.

Concern over the dwindling population of once-common animals suchas the gray wolf led Congress to pass the Endangered Species Act in1973. This law gave control of endangered animals to the U.S. Fish andWildlife Service. Once the gray wolf came under federal protection,state bounties were banned and the hunting of wolves was outlawed inmost areas. A person found guilty of killing a wolf could be punishedwith a fine of $100,000 and a year in jail.


Level: A 2020 Teachers' Curriculum Institute

The Fish and Wildlife Service also worked to restore endangeredspecies to habitats where they had once flourished. As part of thiseffort, federal officials reintroduced gray wolves to Yellowstone NationalPark in 1995. No wolves had been seen in the park, which includesparts of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, since 1939.

The return of wolves to Yellowstone Park triggered a storm of protestfrom nearby sheep and cattle ranchers. Fearing wolf raids on theirlivestock, they urged state officials to wrest control of the growing wolfpopulation away from the federal government. Fish and Wildlife Serviceofficials resisted these efforts, fearing that handing over wolfmanagement to the states could lead to overhunting and evenextinction.

By 2007, Idaho and Montana’s wolf population had grown to the pointat which the Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to return management ofwolves to state agencies. However, environmentalists contested thisdecision. After much debate, Idaho and Montana regained managementof wolves in 2011. In 2012, Wyoming also regained this authority.

This long and often-heated debate over who should manage the graywolf is an example of the types of conflicts that can arise in a federalsystem of government. This lesson will trace the evolution of federalismin the United States over the past two centuries, including theimportant role of state and local governments within our federal systemof government.

1. The Establishment of aFederal SystemThe United States was the first nation-state founded with a federalistsystem of government. This system contributes to both a national andfederal identity, making Americans proud of both their country andtheir state.



This image depicts George Washington presiding over the delegates atthe 1787 Constitutional Convention. The framers of the U.S.Constitution created a federal system of government that dividespowers between national and state governments.

The framers of the Constitution formed a federalist system ofgovernment out of necessity. The delegates attending theConstitutional Convention in 1787 knew that the 13 states would bereluctant to give up any real power to a national government. As aresult, the framers carefully configured how power should be dividedamong the national government and state governments.

The Constitutional Division of Powers The U.S. Constitutiondivides powers into three categories: expressed, concurrent, andreserved. The diagram “The Federal System” shows how these powersare distributed between the national and state governments.

Expressed powers are powers specifically granted to the nationalgovernment. The Constitution lists only 17 of these specific powers.Some, such as the power to coin money or to make treaties with othercountries, are delegated exclusively to the national government.Others, such as the power to levy taxes, are concurrent powers sharedby the national and state governments.



The Constitution says little about the powers reserved by states. But itdoes place some requirements on state governments. The Full Faithand Credit Clause, for example, insists that states recognize, honor,and enforce one another’s public actions. Because of this clause, adriver’s license issued by your home state is recognized as legal in anyother state.

In addition, the Privileges and Immunities Clause says a state cannotdiscriminate against residents of other states or give its own residentsspecial privileges. This means that if you move to a new state, you willenjoy all of the rights given to any other citizen of that state.

The Tenth Amendment further clarifies the constitutional division ofpowers by declaring that powers not specifically delegated to thenational government are reserved for the states. These reservedpowers include overseeing public schools, regulating businesses, andprotecting state resources. The states also reserve the power toestablish and regulate local governments.

The Benefits of a Federal System While the framers had littlechoice but to create a federal system of government, they could seeseveral benefits of federalism. Four of the most important are listedbelow.

Federalism protects against tyranny of the majority. By dividingpower among several units of government, federalism makes it difficultfor a misguided majority to trample the rights of a minority. If aminority group feels abused in one state, its members can move to astate where their rights are more likely to be respected.

An editor named Jonah Goldberg compared the states to housing dormson a hypothetical college campus to describe how this protectionbenefits a diverse population. On this campus, roughly half of thestudents like to have loud parties every night, while the other half liketo have peace and quiet for studying. He wrote,

A purely democratic system where all students get todecide dorm policy could result in the tyranny of 51 percentof the students over 49 percent of the students. The party-hardy crowd could pass a policy permitting loud music and .. . parties at all hours of the night. Or if the moreacademically rigorous coalition won, they could ban “ fun”of any kind, ever . . . But, if you allowed each individualdorm to vote for its own policies, you could have a systemwhere some dorms operate like scholarly monasteries and



other dorms are more fun than a pool party . . .Theoretically, 100 percent of the students could live theway they want. Maximized human happiness!

—Jonah Goldberg, “United States of Happiness,” NationalReview Online, 2004

Federalism promotes unity without imposing uniformity. AsGoldberg’s example suggests, federalism allows groups with differentvalues and different ways of life to live together in peace. Likewise,federalism allows states to pass laws that reflect the needs and goalsof their citizens while still remaining part of the union of states. Allstates, for example, support public education for young people. But howschools are funded and regulated differs from state to state, dependingon local preferences.

Federalism creates “laboratories” for policy experiments. The flexibilityof federalism allows states to act as testing grounds for innovativesolutions to common problems. U.S. Supreme Court Justice LouisBrandeis once noted,

It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that asingle courageous State may, if its citizens choose, serveas a laboratory and try novel social and economicexperiments without risk to the rest of the country.

—Justice Louis Brandeis, dissent in New State Ice Co. v.Liebermann, 1932



This Venn diagram shows how powers are divided and shared in ourfederal system of government. There are relatively few expressedpowers, or powers delegated exclusively to the national government. Alarge number are either concurrent powers shared by both the statesand the national government or powers reserved for the states.

If a state tries a new idea and succeeds, other states will follow suit. Onthe other hand, if an experimental policy fails, the problems that resultare limited to one state. In some cases, a failure may provide lessons toothers about better ways to implement policies.

Federalism encourages political participation. Finally, federalismprovides an opportunity for people to be involved in the politicalprocess closer to home than the nation’s capital. As Goldberg observed,

The more you push . . . decisions down to the level wherepeople actually have to live with their consequences, themore likely it is they [the people] will be a) involved andinterested in the decision-making process, and b) happywith the result. Federalism . . . requires the consent of thegoverned at the most basic level. Sure, your side can losean argument, but it’s easier to change things locally thannationally.



American drivers may beunaware that speed limitsand other traffic regulationsoften differ from state tostate. The lack of consistencybetween state laws is onedrawback of the U.S. federalsystem.

The Drawbacks of a Federal System For all of the benefits, thereare drawbacks to a federal system. One is the lack of consistency oflaws and policies from state to state. This can create problems whenpeople move from state to state. Drivers who cross state lines, forexample, may not be aware that the speed limits and traffic laws of onestate may not apply to the next. Teachers and other professionals oftenface hurdles when they move from state to state. A teaching credentialvalid in one state may not allow a teacher to teach in another statewithout additional testing or coursework.

Another drawback of our federal system is the tension it sometimescreates between state and federal officials. The Constitution does notalways draw a clear dividing line between national and state powers.For example, it does not specify whether control of wildlife should be afederal or a state responsibility. The same can be said for other issues,such as regulating air quality and providing health care to the poor.When questions arise over who is in charge, it is often left to theSupreme Court to draw the line between the state and federalauthority.

2. The Evolution of FederalismThere are approximately 88,000 national, state, and local units ofgovernment in the United States. The “Units of Government in the



United States” diagram shows how that total breaks down into apyramid of governments. Not surprisingly, with so many different unitsof government at work in this country, relations among the differentlevels have evolved and changed over time.

Dual Federalism: A Layer Cake of Divided Powers The framers ofthe Constitution disagreed among themselves about the ideal balanceof power among the different levels of government. But they did agree,as James Madison wrote in The Federalist No. 45, that the powers of thenational government were “few and defined” and the powers of thestates “numerous and indefinite.”

From 1790 to 1933, national and state governments maintained a fairlystrict division of powers. Political scientists sometimes refer to thissystem as dual federalism, or “layer cake” federalism. In this system,the two levels are part of the whole, but each has its own clearlydelineated responsibilities.

During the era of dual federalism, the Supreme Court sometimesplayed the role of referee between the states and the nationalgovernment. For example, in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), a caseinvolving the creation of a national bank, the Court made it clear thatfederal laws took precedent over state laws when the two came intoconflict.

A few years later, the Court further clarified the roles of the state andnational governments, this time in the regulation of commerce. Thecase of Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) arose when the New York Statelegislature granted Aaron Ogden a monopoly on steamboat operationsbetween New York and New Jersey. Ogden went to court in New York toforce a rival steamboat operator, Thomas Gibbons, off the river. Whenthe state court ruled in Ogden’s favor, Gibbons appealed the decision tothe Supreme Court.

Lawyers for Gibbons argued that New York had no authority to limitcommerce on waterways between states. The Supreme Court agreed.Chief Justice John Marshall concluded that the Constitution clearly givescontrol of trade among the states to the national government. As aresult, New York’s grant of a monopoly to Ogden was unconstitutional.

The Gibbons decision drew a sharp line between state and federalpower. The national government controls interstate commerce, ortrade among the states. The states control intrastate commerce, ortrade within their borders. This clear division of power was typical ofhow federalism worked during the dual federalism era.



The number of governments in the United States has grown over timeas new states were added to the Union and new towns and cities wereestablished. In the last few decades, the number of special-purposedistricts has soared. These districts govern everything from schools tomass transit to cemeteries.



During the era of dual federalism, the national and state governmentsusually operated independently of one another. The two levels haveoften been compared to a layer cake. The shift to cooperativefederalism led to more sharing of responsibilities. The result wasmingling of federal and state powers, like the swirls in a marble cake.

Cooperative Federalism: A Marble Cake of Mixed Powers TheGreat Depression of the 1930s led to a very different conception offederalism. As the Depression deepened, the efforts of stategovernments to feed the hungry and revive the economy provedinadequate. In desperation, Americans turned to the nationalgovernment for help.

On taking office in 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt launched a flurryof legislation known as the New Deal. These New Deal programsushered in a new era of shared power among national, state, and localgovernments. Unlike in the past, when officials at different levels hadviewed each other with suspicion, they now worked together as allies toease human suffering.

Political scientists refer to this new era as one of cooperativefederalism, or “marble cake” federalism. Political scientist MortonGrodzins wrote of the federalist system during this period,

When you slice through it you reveal an inseparablemixture of differently colored ingredients . . . so that it is



difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins. So it iswith the federal, state, and local responsibilities in thechaotic marble cake of American government.

—“The Federal System,” 1960

The diagram “Dual Versus Cooperative Federalism” illustrates thedifferences between dual (layer cake) and cooperative (marble cake)federalism.

A key ingredient in marble cake federalism was a mix of federalgrants-in-aid programs. Grants-in-aid are funds given by the federalgovernment to state and local governments for specific programs, suchas aid to the unemployed. Such grants had long been used by thenational government, but only for very narrow purposes. Rooseveltgreatly expanded the use of grants-in-aid to get help to the needy. In1927, shortly before the Depression began, federal funds made up lessthan 2 percent of state and local government revenues. This figurejumped to just over 13 percent early in the New Deal and remainednear there until 1960.

Regulated Federalism: More Money with More StringsAttached A generation later, President Lyndon Johnson set out toexpand on the New Deal by creating what he called the Great Society.The Great Society was a set of programs designed to end poverty,eliminate racial injustice, and improve the environment.

Like Roosevelt, Johnson looked to state and local governments to carryout many of his new programs. As during the New Deal, the federalgovernment provided funding in the form of grants. But unlike earliergrants-in-aid, Great Society grants often came with strict regulations asto how the money could be spent. Johnson called his partnership withstate and local governments creative federalism. Political scientists,however, prefer the more descriptive term regulated federalism.

Johnson’s Great Society legislation led to a huge increase in federalinvolvement in state and local governments. Political scientist TimothyConlan observed that by the end of the 1960s,

The federal government became more involved in virtuallyall existing fields of governmental activity—including manythat had been highly local in character (for example,elementary and secondary education, local lawenforcement, libraries, and fire protection). In addition, newpublic functions were established, such as adult



employment training, air pollution control, health planning,and community antipoverty programs. —Timothy Conlan,From New Federalism to Devolution:

Twenty-Five Years of Intergovernmental Reform, 1998

President Lyndon Johnson’sGreat Society legislationprovided funding for stateand local governments in theform of grants. However,these grants entailed strictregulations on howgovernments could use themoney. This relationshipbetween the national andstate governments is referredto by political scientists asregulated federalism.

Although state and local governments welcomed the new influx offederal funds, they were not happy about the federal regulations thatcame with the money. They were even less happy about the rapidgrowth of unfunded mandates that began in the 1960s. These areprograms and regulations imposed on state and local governments byCongress without adequate funding, if any, attached to them.

Unfunded mandates were attractive to members of Congress, sincemembers could declare that they were solving problems without havingto raise taxes to fund the solutions. Instead, the mandates put theburden of paying for those solutions on state and local governments. Ineffect, Congress provided the recipe for solving problems but required



state and local governments to provide the ingredients—both moneyand people—to make those solutions work.

New Federalism: Returning Power to the States The rapidexpansion of federal power in the 1960s alarmed people who valuedstate and local control. While running for president in 1968, RichardNixon promised voters that he would restore “true” federalism byreigning in federal power. Nixon called his pledge to return power to thestates the new federalism. Political scientists call these more recentefforts to return power to the states devolution.

Devolution began slowly in the 1970s and 1980s, first under PresidentNixon and later under President Ronald Reagan. Both presidents tried toshift power back to the states by encouraging them to write their own“recipes” for solving problems. The national government’s role wasreduced to providing ingredients, mostly in the form of federal funds.

Devolution picked up speed in 1994, when Republicans gained controlof Congress for the first time in 40 years. Once in power, the newRepublican majority enacted the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act. Thepurpose of this 1995 law was to stop Congress from burdening stateswith responsibilities without providing adequate funding.

A year later, Congress pushed devolution still further when itoverhauled the nation’s welfare system. In the past, federal officials hadclosely regulated how states gave out welfare payments to needyfamilies. The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work OpportunityReconciliation Act, known as the Welfare Reform Act, returned controlof welfare systems to state governments.

The federal government continued to provide “ingredients” in the formof block grants to the states. But unlike the highly regulated grants-in-aid that funded Great Society programs, block grants left states free todecide how best to spend the money they received. One of therequirements imposed on state welfare programs was that they limitthe time a person could receive federally funded welfare payments tofive years.



Over the years, the national government has devised different“recipes” for federalism. During the period of regulated federalism, thenational government greatly expanded its power over states. Congressoften mandated programs for state and local governments with strictregulations but inadequate funding. Supporters of new federalismsought to restore the balance between the two levels of government.This was done by returning control over many programs to the states.

The Impact of the Supreme Court on Devolution Since powerbegan shifting back to the states in the late 20th century, the SupremeCourt has made a series of decisions that contributed to devolution.One of the first involved the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990, a lawpassed by Congress that banned firearm possession around publicschools. In 1992, Alfonso Lopez, Jr., a high school student in Texas, wasconvicted of violating the law after taking a gun to school. Lopezappealed his conviction on the grounds that Congress lacked the powerto regulate gun possession in schools.

In United States v. Lopez (1995), the Supreme Court agreed with Lopezand voted 5–4 to strike down the 1990 act as an unconstitutionalexpansion of federal power. Speaking for the Court, Chief JusticeWilliam Rehnquist reasoned that upholding this law would “convertcongressional authority under the Commerce Clause to a general police



power of the sort retained by the States.”

The Supreme Court also limited federal power in United States v.Morrison (2000), a case involving a federal law that gave victims ofgender-motivated crimes the right to sue in federal courts. In anothersplit decision, the Court ruled that Congress did not have the authorityto enact this part of the law.

However, if the past is any guide, federalism will continue to evolve. Inrecent decades, federal power has expanded in some areas. Forexample, President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001into law. Under this act, states must provide students with qualifiedteachers and administer annual standardized tests in federally fundedschools. Furthermore, in 2005, the Court upheld a federal law thatlimited marijuana usage in Gonzales v. Raich. Since then, 9 states havelegalized recreational marijuana, and medical marijuana is legal in 30states.

In some cases, the Court helped define what the national governmentcan and cannot do. For instance, Congress passed the Affordable CareAct of 2010, which required Americans to buy health insurance. Thosewho refused would have to pay a penalty. The Supreme Court upheldmost provisions of the act in National Federation of IndependentBusiness v. Sebelius (2012), but declared the act “constitutional in partand unconstitutional in part.” Chief Justice John Roberts, the decidingvote in this case, found that the federal mandate was constitutionalbecause of Congress’s power to impose taxes, not because of theCommerce Clause, as the government argued. The Court’s decision toreject the government’s argument may limit federal power in the longrun, and power will continue to shift between the states and thenational government.



George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act increased federal funds topublic schools. In exchange for these funds, schools were expected toshow that their students were learning basic reading and math skills.

3. State Governments in aFederal SystemStrange things were going on in Texas in 2003. State troopers werescouring the state, looking for lost legislators. But the missinglawmakers were not in any danger. Instead, they were hiding out inArdmore, Oklahoma, and later in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in an effortto stall a vote in their state legislature. The activities of stategovernments do not usually get much coverage in the news. But thecase of the runaway Texas lawmakers made headlines across theUnited States.



The Texas state constitution requires a quorum to be present for thestate legislature to vote on bills. In 2003, Texas legislators fled thestate to prevent a quorum and block legislation from being passed. TheTexas House Chamber, shown here, was nearly deserted as a result.

State Constitutions: Long and Much Amended The missing Texaslawmakers were using a provision in their state constitution to keep thelegislature from voting on a bill that they opposed. The constitution ofTexas, like that of most states, requires a quorum to be present for thelegislature to vote on bills. A quorum is a fixed number of people, oftena majority, who must be present for an organization to conductbusiness. The purpose of a quorum is to prevent an unrepresentativeminority from taking action in the name of the full organization.

The U.S. Constitution requires every state constitution to support “arepublican form of government.” Beyond that stipulation, each state isfree to organize its government as its citizens choose. Nebraska, forinstance, is the only state with a unicameral state legislature. Alabama,unlike other states, allows for “local amendments” to its constitution.These amendments apply only to the local areas that approve them.

In contrast to the U.S. Constitution, state constitutions tend to changefrequently. Most states have adopted entirely new constitutions at leastonce, if not several times. Today, only five states still rely onconstitutions written before 1850. The “State Constitutions andAmendments” map shows when each state adopted its present-day



constitution.

The map also shows that states tend to amend their constitutionsrelatively often. A majority of states have amended their constitutionsat least 100 times. During an election, Texan voters were asked toapprove 19 constitutional amendments. One of the amendments simplyallowed towns to donate old firefighting equipment to charities. At thenational level, such an issue would have been settled by an act ofCongress.

Because of their many amendments, state constitutions tend to bemuch longer than the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Constitution has onlyabout 7,400 words, compared with an average of around 39,000 forstate constitutions. Alabama boasts the longest constitution of all—withmore than 900 amendments.

State constitutions are usually amended in one of two ways. Thelegislature may propose an amendment, which is then submitted tovoters for approval. About three-fourths of amendments proposed bylegislatures win voter approval. Or, citizens can petition for a publicvote on a proposed amendment through the initiative process. Abouthalf of the amendments proposed by citizen initiatives are enacted byvoters.



Nineteen states today are still governed by their original constitutions.In contrast, Louisiana holds the record for change, with 11constitutions. Vermont has the shortest constitution with around 8,500words. Alabama’s constitution, on the other hand, has more than350,000 words.

The Role of State Legislatures: Laws, Budgets, andRedistricting Like the U.S. Congress, state legislatures areresponsible for enacting laws, levying taxes, and creating budgets. Inall states, lawmakers are elected by popular vote. Some states electcitizen legislatures, whose members meet only a few weeks per year.Other states elect professional legislatures, whose members meetalmost year-round.

State lawmakers act on a wide range of issues. For example, they enactlaws that create state parks, establish graduation requirements for highschool students, and regulate business activities within the state. Theyalso pass tax laws and draw up budgets to fund everything from stateprisons to community colleges to statewide infrastructure.



State lawmakers are also responsible for apportionment, or thedistribution of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and in statelegislatures. The U.S. Constitution apportions seats in the House ofRepresentatives to the states based on population.

But Congress does not have the power to say how those seats shouldbe distributed within a state. That decision is left up to each state.

The number of women legislators has grown steadily since 1975. By2017, a total of 1,853 women were serving in state legislatures acrossthe country. Arizona and Vermont led the nation, both with 40 percentof its legislative seats occupied by women. Wyoming lagged with only11 percent.



"The Gerry Manders"This 1812 cartoon shows thesalamander-like shape of aMassachusetts legislativedistrict created by GovernorElbridge Gerry. Since then,the term gerrymandering hascome to mean the drawing ofdistrict boundaries in a waythat favors one political partyor elected official overanother.

For much of our history, state legislatures varied in how theyapproached apportionment. Often, lawmakers tried to draw districtboundaries to benefit themselves or other members of their party, apractice known as gerrymandering. The term gerrymander wascoined in 1811 to describe a salamander-shaped legislative district inMassachusetts. Elbridge Gerry, the governor of Massachusetts, hadcreated the oddly shaped district to help members of his party.

In addition to gerrymandering, some state legislatures favored voters insmall towns and rural areas by basing legislative districts on factorsother than population. People in cities complained that legislaturesdominated by rural lawmakers failed to deal with urban problems. Butthere was little they could do to force state legislations to apportionseats differently.

Frustration with this situation prompted a group of citizens, led by



Charles Baker, to sue Tennessee’s secretary of state, Joe Carr, in 1959.At issue was the failure of the Tennessee legislature to adjust thestate’s legislative districts since 1901. During that time, many ruralfamilies had migrated to cities.

As a result of the legislature’s failure to redraw districts, as it wasrequired too under the Tennessee State Constitution, Baker’s urbandistrict had ten times as many residents as some rural districts had.Baker claimed that this imbalance violated his Fourteenth Amendmentright to “equal protection under the laws.” He asked the court toprevent Carr and other state officials from holding elections inTennessee until district lines were redrawn.

Baker v. Carr reached the Supreme Court in 1961. In the past, the Courthad treated redistricting, or the redrawing of voting districts to reflectpopulation changes, as a political question. As such, it was up to statelegislatures, not federal courts, to decide when and how redistrictingshould take place. After months of deliberation, however, the Courtrejected this position. In 1962, it decided that legislative apportionmentwas a question for state and federal courts to consider.

The impact of this decision was immediate and far-reaching. Within ayear, 36 states were involved in lawsuits over their apportionment oflegislative seats. A number of these cases, including Reynolds v. Sims,came before the Supreme Court in 1964. Speaking for the Court, ChiefJustice Earl Warren wrote,

Legislators represent people, not trees or acres. Legislatorsare elected by voters, not farms or cities or economicinterests . . . A citizen, a qualified voter, is no more nor noless so because he lives in the city or on the farm. This isthe clear and strong command of our Constitution’s EqualProtection Clause. This is an essential part of the conceptof a government of laws and not men.

As a result of this decision, state legislatures across the country wereforced to redraw their legislative districts following the principle of “oneperson, one vote.”

Today, redistricting is done every ten years after the Census Bureaureports the results of the national census. A few states have turnedover the task of redrawing district lines based on census data to anindependent commission. In most states, however, redistricting is stilldone by lawmakers.



The redistricting process is often divisive. The Texas lawmakers whofled the state in 2003 did so to block action on a redistricting bill theysaw as unfair to their party. They did not have enough votes to defeatthe bill. Instead, they tried to keep the legislature from voting at all bypreventing a quorum from appearing at the statehouse. Redistrictingcontinues to be a concern in Texas. When district lines were redrawnafter the 2010 census, the issue was brought to the Supreme Court. Insome states, however, arguments of redistricting can get even moreintense.

When fists flew in the Illinois legislature in 1981, it was notover policy. It was about politics: the politics ofredistricting. That’s no surprise. Redistricting is the politicalequivalent of moving the left field fence for a right-handedhitter. By changing the boundaries, redistricting helpssome, hurts others—and leaves just about everyone elsescrambling.

—Jack Quinn, Donald J. Simon, and Jonathan B. Sallet,“Redrawing the Districts, Changing the Rules,” WashingtonPost National Weekly Edition, April 1, 1991

The Role of State Governors: Managing the Executive BranchState governors are usually the best-known public officials in theirstate. In all states, governors are elected by popular vote. Almost allserve four-year terms. In many states, they are limited to just twoterms. After serving as governor, the majority return to private life. Butsome view the governorship as a training ground for higher office.About 40 percent of all U.S. presidents were governors first.



Jerry Brown first became California’s governor in 1975, and then againin 2011. His legislative agenda pushed to improve the state’seconomy, reform education, improve government efficiency, andaddress environmental issues.

There are many types ofcourts. Municipal courts dealwith issues such as divorceand adoptions. County courtsdeal with criminal trials andlawsuits. They may alsohandle legal documents suchas marriage licenses.



The most important task of a state governor is to manage the executivebranch of their state government. In addition, most governors have thepower to

help establish the legislature’s agenda.prepare the state budget.veto bills and budgets approved by the legislature.appoint state officials.grant pardons or reduce a criminal’s sentence.command the state National Guard.issue executive orders.

An executive order is an order issued to a government agency toaccomplish a specific task or carry out a specific policy. Governors differin how they use their power. For example, as governor of California,Jerry Brown issued executive orders to ensure that there would beenough staff and resources to clean up communities affected bywildfires and prevent future fires.

At times, governors take actions that put them at odds with the federalgovernment. In 2015, for instance, Brown signed and passed theReproductive Fact Act; the law required licensed reproductive healthclinics to provide information about abortion and contraceptives offeredby the state of California. However, in NIFLA v. Becerra (2018), theCourt determined that this law violated the freedom of speech ofChristian-based clinics that do not support abortion.

Governors may also serve as ambassadors for their state and play amajor role in promoting its economic development. As governor ofNebraska, Pete Ricketts led trade missions to countries in Europe andAsia. When announcing a trade mission to Europe in 2015, Rickettsexplained, “Taking Nebraska agriculture and businesses on the road isimportant to growing Nebraska for the next generation and ensuringthat our economy stays strong.”

The Role of State Court Systems: Settling Legal Disputes If youever have a reason to go to court, you will probably deal with your statecourt system. The vast majority of legal cases in the United States arehandled at the state and local level. Only cases that have a bearing onfederal law are heard in federal courts.

There are two main kinds of courts in state judicial systems: trial courtsand appeals courts. Trial courts handle most cases that affect the dailylives of citizens. Appeals courts handle cases that are appealed, orrequested to be reviewed in order to reverse the decision of a trial



court. In general, appeals center on questions involving interpretationof the law.

In most states, there are two levels of trial courts. At the lower level,municipal courts deal with traffic tickets, adoptions, divorces, and minorviolations of the law. Small claims courts settle disputes involving smallamounts of money— usually less than $5,000. Most participants insmall claims cases act as their own attorneys.

At the higher level, trial courts—with names such as superior court,county court, and district court—deal with major criminal cases andlawsuits. These are the trials usually shown in movies and televisiondramas.

4. Local GovernmentsA savvy Massachusetts politician named Thomas “Tip” O’Neill oncedeclared, “All politics is local.” While O’Neill spent much of his career inWashington, D.C., in the House of Representatives, he realized thatmost of the decisions that directly affect our daily lives are made closeto home. Local governments provide such basic services as drinkingwater, police protection, garbage collection, public schools, andlibraries. Despite their importance, local governments are notmentioned in the U.S. Constitution. It is left up to each state to establishlocal units of government for its citizens.

Counties, Parishes, and Boroughs Following British tradition, 48 ofthe 50 states divide their territory into districts called counties.Louisiana is divided into parishes. Alaska, with its large landmass andsmall, scattered population, divides its land into large boroughs.

The original purpose of counties was to provide government services torural residents. Initially, these services included law enforcement,courts, road construction and maintenance, public assistance to thepoor, and the recording of legal documents. Over time, some countygovernments expanded to provide health protection, hospitals,libraries, parks, fire protection, and forms of agricultural aid.

Traditionally, county governments were headquartered in the countyseat. This was often the largest or most centrally located town in thecounty. Ideally, the county seat was no more than a day’s wagonjourney from any county resident. This made it easier for people toparticipate in local politics.



With the rise of urban areas, towns and cities have taken over many ofthe functions that were once county responsibilities. In some areas, theduties of city and county governments overlap. For example, mosttowns and cities today have their own police forces, but the county maymaintain a sheriff’s office to enforce laws in areas outside city limits.

Most county governments are headed by an elected board ofcommissioners or board of supervisors. The board’s duties varydepending on the powers granted to the county by the state. Otherelected officials typically include the county sheriff, treasurer, taxassessor, and judges. The board may appoint other officials, such as thefire marshal and county coroner.

Law enforcement at the county level is led by the county sheriff, whois usually an elected official. The sheriff department may work with thepolice in a city, but it also enforces laws in unincorporated areas underthe county’s jurisdiction.

Towns and Cities As the United States changed from a rural to alargely urban nation, new forms of local government evolved to meetcitizens’ needs. The three most common types are illustrated on thediagram “Forms of City Government.”



New York City operates undera mayor-council system.Here, the city council gathersto vote on a bill. If passed,the bill would allow the mayorand members of the citycouncil to run for a thirdterm.



The oldest form of city government is the mayor-council system. Inthis system, voters elect both city council members and a mayor. Themayor is the chief executive of the city government. The council is thecity’s lawmaking body. The duties and powers given to the mayor varyfrom city to city. Some cities have strong mayors with expansivepowers. Others have weak mayors with limited powers.

The mayor-council form of government served most cities fairly wellthroughout the 1800s. In 1900, however, a natural disaster gave birthto a new approach. That year the Gulf Coast city of Galveston, Texas,was destroyed by a massive hurricane. Believing that its traditionalgovernment could not manage the rebuilding effort, a group ofinfluential business leaders pressed for replacing the city council with aboard of commissioners appointed by the Texas governor. The board’sgoal was to turn over the rebuilding effort to civil engineers and otherskilled professionals.

Galveston adopted this new commission system. However, criticismthat it was undemocratic soon led to the election, rather thanappointment, of commissioners. Still, commissioners ran for officebased on their formal training in civil management rather than on theirpolitical popularity.

The commission system worked wonders for Galveston. The newgovernment rebuilt the city on higher ground and constructed a seawallto protect it from hurricanes. Seeing Galveston’s success, dozens ofother cities adopted the commission system.

In the 1950s and 1960s, many cities (including Galveston) switched to athird form of local government known as the council-managersystem. In this system, citizens elect a city council (often led by a weakmayor), but the dayto- day job of running the city government ishandled by a hired city manager. This system combines democraticrule with professional management expertise. Today, the council-manager system is the most common form of city government in theUnited States.

Special-Purpose Districts Some functions of government are sospecialized that citizens create separate units of government to dealwith them. These special-purpose districts may overlap thegeographic boundaries of counties and cities, but they operateindependently from those other local units of government.

Special-purpose districts have their own elected leaders and taxingauthority. Most carry out just one function, such as running a hospital or



a park. Your local school board is an example of a special purposedistrict. Elected school boards hire school officials, approve schoolbudgets, and establish school policies. Some of the most commonfunctions of special purpose districts include regulating naturalresources and providing fire protection.

The Challenges Facing Local Governments Local city and countygovernments and special-purpose districts face serious challenges.Because they provide so many vital services, local governments areusually more closely watched by citizens than are the more distantstate and national governments. Yet, local governments often lack theresources they need to meet everyone’s expectations.

More than other levels of government, local governments depend oncitizens who are willing to volunteer their time. People who serve oncity councils or sit on boards of special-purpose districts get paid verylittle, if anything at all. The same is true for people who serve on city orcounty advisory boards, commissions, and task forces. Finding willingand able volunteers to fill these and other positions can be difficult.

To meet these challenges, local governments must be in close touchwith the people they serve. This is good news for you and your family.Local officials usually welcome and listen to input from people in theircommunity. By doing something as simple as writing a letter to yourlocal newspaper or speaking up at a local city council or school boardmeeting, you can affect how decisions are made. And who knows, youmight decide to get involved in local government yourself.

SummaryOur federal system divides powers among the national, state, and localgovernments. The U.S. Constitution gives considerable freedom tostates to set up the kind of state and local governments that work bestfor their citizens.

Benefits of federalism Federalism promotes national unity whileallowing for diversity among the states. Federalism also allows states tooperate as laboratories for public policy experiments.

Evolution of federalism The way federalism works has evolved overtime. During the era of dual federalism, national and state governmentsoperated independently of one another. More recently, the federalgovernment has become increasingly involved in state and local affairs,either through new or regulated federalism. Federalism will continue to



evolve in the future.

State governments Each state government has a legislative,executive, and judicial branch. One of the most important jobs of statelegislatures is the apportionment of legislative districts.

Local governments County and city governments provide suchbasic services as water and fire protection. One of the challengesfacing local governments is meeting citizen demands for services withlimited funds. Different types of local government have emerged tomeet these needs.

California Local GovernmentsThis essay analyzes the structure and functions of California's localgovernments, including the relationship between local and stategovernments.

Overview

California has three different kinds of local governments: county, city,and special districts. Local governments are by far the most numerousand overlapping governments in the state. In California there are 58county governments, more than 470 city governments, and about2,300 special districts. But just as the California state government mustoperate within the confines of federal laws and the U.S. Constitution,local governments must operate in line with California and federal laws.

County Governments

Each county in California has its own government, subject tosupervision by state government and regulated by state laws. The statelegislature exerts more control over county governments than it doesover city governments. For example, the state legislature may decide todelegate to the counties any function that the state normally carriesout, such as requiring counties, rather than the state, to fund the trialcourts. The state legislature may also decide to take back any functionsit has previously delegated to the counties. The state legislature,however, may not do so with cities.

California's constitution recognizes three types of counties: general lawcounties, charter counties, and consolidated counties.



• General Law Counties General law counties areregulated by state laws that specify which particularofficers must be elected and the roles those officers musthave. Most of California's counties—including San Joaquin,Monterey, and Ventura counties—are general law counties.• Charter Counties Charter counties adopt a charter—adocument similar to a constitution—that spells out how thecounty is to be governed. Unlike general law counties,charter counties have somewhat more flexibility todetermine how they will be governed. Charter counties maydetermine how most county officials are elected,compensated, and removed from office, and they maydetermine the power and duties of all county officers.Examples of charter counties include Alameda,Sacramento, and San Diego counties.• Consolidated Counties California has only oneconsolidated city and county: San Francisco. Sinceadopting its charter in 1856, San Francisco has had acombined city and county government.

The California constitution requires that each county elect a governingboard of supervisors (also known as a county board), which serves asboth the legislative and executive branches of county government. Thecounty board passes all laws, adopts the budgets, and oversees avariety of local services such as health programs, law enforcementoperations, jail facilities, tax assessment, and social services.

Most counties elect five members to serve on their boards ofsupervisors. These officials are generally elected for four-year terms.Most county boards appoint a chief administrative officer to carry outthe policies set by the board of supervisors and to oversee the day-to-day operations of county government.

City Governments

City governments, like counties, derive their powers from both theCalifornia constitution and state laws. In California, there are two typesof cities: general law cities and charter cities.

• General Law Cities Most cities in California are generallaw cities, in which state law determines many aspects ofcity government, including the qualifications for city councilmembers, the methods for holding elections, and theprocedures for passing city ordinances.• Charter Cities Charter cities are formed when citizens



create a charter that lays out the structure of the citygovernment. Charter cities are free to set their own policiesregarding such matters as city council membership,elections, and procedures for passing local laws. Examplesof charter cities include Sacramento, San Francisco, LosAngeles, and Long Beach.

California has two forms of city government: the council-managersystem and the mayor-council system.

• Council-Manager System In the council-managersystem, the city council hires a manager to oversee theday-to-day administration of the city. The city manager hasauthority to set budgets, appoint department heads, andmanage the day-to-day operations of the city. The citycouncil has the power to pass and enforce local laws, whichmeans that it holds both the executive and legislativepowers in the city. Most of California's city governmentsuse the council-manager system.• Mayor-Council System In the mayor-council system, anelected mayor serves as the chief executive and the citycouncil serves as the legislative body. There are two kindsof mayor-council systems: a weak-mayor system and astrong-mayor system.—Weak-Mayor System In the weak-mayor system, themayor is selected from among council members andshares executive powers with the city council and withother elected officials. He or she does not have the solepower to set budgets or make appointments to governmentpositions but instead must share that power with thecouncil. In many cases, the mayor's role is reduced to aceremonial one, and the real authority is held by the citycouncil. This form of city government is most often foundin small general law cities. Los Angeles is one example of acity with a weak-mayor form of the mayor-council system.—Strong-Mayor System In the strong-mayor system, themayor is elected by the people and serves as the chiefexecutive officer. The mayor has the power to appoint cityofficials and prepare budgets, as well as to veto legislationpassed by the council. The city council serves as thelegislature, with the power to approve budgets andoverride mayoral vetoes. San Diego is an example of a citywith a strong-mayor system of government.

Special Districts



A special district is a form of local government that is created to meet aspecific need that is unmet by city or county governments. The size ofspecial districts may vary. For example, a street-lighting district may bea single city block, whereas a water district may include severalcounties.

Most special districts in California perform a single function, such asoverseeing school administration, street lighting, or mosquitoabatement. A small minority of special districts, such as parks andrecreation districts, provides a range of services.

Special districts in California may be independent or dependent. Anindependent special district is governed by a board of directors thatmay be elected by voters or appointed by a city council or countyboard. A dependent special district is operated under the control ofanother existing legislative body, such as a board of supervisors or acity council.

New York Local GovernmentsThe U.S. Constitution mentions only two levels of government—federaland state. Yet implicit in the powers reserved to the states (TenthAmendment) is the recognition that states would provide for localgovernments to serve local diversities and needs. In fact, localgovernment in New York has its roots in the earliest colonial days and inthe Iroquois Confederation. Today the people of New York haveendowed their local governments with extensive “home rule” powers.

This essay analyzes the structure and functions of New York localgovernments, including the relationship between local and stategovernment.

The New York Constitution and Local Government

The home rule powers granted to local governments by the New Yorkconstitution are among the most far-reaching in the country. Article IX—also known as the “home rule” article—establishes the principle oflocal popular control of local government. It gives counties, cities,towns, and villages the following powers:

• to adopt and amend local laws• to have an elected legislative body• to appoint or elect other local offices• to use eminent domain to take private property for public



use• to make cooperative agreements with other governments

The other article of the state constitution that applies to localgovernment is Article VIII, the regulations for local finances. Article VIIImakes clear that home rule principles do not apply to local finances. Itincludes the following provisions, which apply to school districts as wellas to counties, cities, towns, and villages:

• limits the amount and type of borrowing• limits the amount of property taxes that may be raised• prohibits loans of public funds or property to any privateundertaking

The New York legislature also has the power to make laws that affectlocal government. For example, the legislature can give localgovernments the authority to enter into intermunicipal agreements orto adopt city or county charters. The legislature has enacted a body oflaws known as the Consolidated Laws from which local governmentsderive much of their specific powers. These laws address such things ascivil service, education, elections, highways, and local finance.

Structure: Overview

New York has four types of “general purpose” local governments—counties, cities, towns, and villages. These entities, known as municipalcorporations, have broad powers to provide services to their residents.With the exception of the five counties that make up the boroughs ofNew York City, each county is wholly divided into cities and towns.Twenty-one counties have towns only. A town might have one or morevillages within its borders, and a village might also lie in more than onetown or even county. But a village may not lie within a city.

New York also has local districts and authorities in addition to itsmunicipalities. Each district and authority exists to provide a singleservice. Special districts fall into three categories: school districts, firedistricts, and improvement districts such as water, garbage, andlibraries. Public authorities are created by the state legislature andhandle services similar to those handled by improvement districts.

As you can see, the local-government system in New York consists ofmany overlapping layers. At a minimum, everyone who lives in thestate of New York is a resident of a county, a city or town, and a schooldistrict. Depending on where someone lives, he or she might be served—and taxed—by even more units of local government.



County Governments

Counties were originally formed to build courthouses and jails,poorhouses, and orphanages. The supervisors of the towns within acounty would come together to make decisions about how to financeand administer these public buildings. These groups were the originalboards of supervisors, a model that still exists in some counties today.

The function of county government has expanded beyond thetraditional tasks of law enforcement and record keeping. Counties inNew York today are involved in industrial and economic development,education, health services, and parks and recreation. Some provide avast array of services and control huge budgets. For example, NewYork's second largest county, Nassau County, has a budget of morethan $3.6 billion.

Most counties come under the state's County Law, which describes thestructure, administrative organization, powers, and duties of countygovernment. Nineteen counties, however, have adopted countycharters that supersede the County Law. These charters have allowedcounties—especially large ones—to adapt their leadership,organization, and procedures to meet the growing needs of theircitizens.

County legislatures The U.S. Supreme Court's interpretation of theEqual Protection clause of the Fourteen Amendment in the 1960s hadfar-reaching implications for county governments. With thisinterpretation's requirement of “one person, one vote,” many countiesfaced a problem, since supervisors were elected from towns of varioussizes. Counties responded in two different ways. Some have kept theboard of supervisors model but now weight the votes of its members.Others drew new districts of roughly equal population.

All of the 57 counties outside New York City have legislatures, which goby a variety of names—board of supervisors, board of representatives,board of legislators, or county legislature. County legislatures range insize from 7 members to 39. Members' terms range from two to fouryears. Like their state and federal counterparts, they often function incommittees.

County executives In counties that still come under County Law, thelegislature handles administrative direction and supervision. Chartercounties ordinarily establish a separate executive branch to administerthe county. In some counties the legislature appoints an executive, whothen is responsible to that body. In many urban counties, however,



voters elect an executive who is independent of the legislature.

Other elected officials All counties elect a district attorney, and mostelect a sheriff. Other optional elected officials include treasurer,coroner, and clerk.

City Government

New York State has 62 cities, each with its own government andcharter. Two cities—New York City and Albany—have charters thatoriginated in colonial times. The state legislature chartered the other 60cities. A city's charter establishes its form of government and sets upthe legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the city. New Yorkcities have strong home rule authority, including the power to changetheir charters or to adopt new charters.

New York State has cities with three most common forms of citygovernment—mayor-council, council-manager, and commission. NewYork City is in a category by itself, as it has a “regional” governmentthat includes parts of Connecticut and New Jersey in addition to NewYork.

Mayor-council system Mayor-council cities have an elected mayorwho heads the executive branch. The council forms the legislativebranch. Forty-six of New York's 62 cities have this form of citygovernment.

In a “strong mayor” model, the mayor is both the chief executive andthe administrative head of the city government. He or she usually hasthe power to appoint or remove agency heads, to prepare the citybudget, and to exercise a veto over council actions. Some “strongmayor” cities in New York also have a professional administratorappointed by the mayor. The strong mayor-council form is the mostpopular form of city government in New York.

In the “weak mayor” model, the mayor is mostly a ceremonial figure. Inthis case, the council not only is the legislative body, but also providesa committee form of administrative leadership.

Council-manager system In this form of city government, anappointed professional manager serves as administrative head. Theelected city council forms the legislative branch, and the mayor, if thereis one, is mainly a ceremonial figure. The manager generally has thepower to appoint or remove agency heads and prepare the city budget,but he or she does not have veto power over council actions. New York



State has 13 cities with the council-manager system.

Commission system In this system, voters elect commissioners toadminister individual departments of the city government. Together,this group forms the policymaking branch. In some casescommissioners will take turns performing the ceremonial duties ofmayor. The commission system sometimes includes a professionalmanager or administrator. Three cities in New York use the commissionplan.

New York City New York City stands in a category of its own—the onlyconsolidated major local government in the state. It contains fivecounties but no county governments. It contains no villages or towns. Itspans an area of 303 square miles, and its population of over 8.6million comprises more than 45 percent of the state's residents. Citydepartments—such as police, fire, and sanitation—offer services on anenormous scale, and it is the only major U.S. city with a municipalhospital system.

New York City's charter gives specific powers to designated officials.The mayor has the power to appoint agency and department heads,propose a budget, approve large purchases, veto council bills, andnegotiate agreements with labor unions. With the help of four deputymayors, he or she presides over many departments, offices,commissions, and boards. An elected comptroller serves as the chieffiscal officer of the city. An elected public advocate represents theconsumers of city services. Like the lieutenant governor, the publicadvocate presides over the legislative branch (city council), can cast atie-breaking vote, and acts as mayor in an emergency.

The city council, New York City's legislative branch, is made up ofrepresentatives of each of the 51 districts of the city. Members enactlocal laws, oversee city agencies, approve the budget, and decide land-use issues.

In addition to having these branches of city government, New York Cityhas five borough presidents, each with his or her own board. Withduties that are partly ceremonial and partly administrative, the boroughpresidents represent the interests of their borough at city hall. Finally,New York City is divided into 59 community districts, each of which hasa community board appointed by the borough president. Volunteerboard members hold public hearings to allow residents to discussneighborhood concerns. They play an advisory role in zoning,community planning, and provision of city services.



Town Government

New York's towns encompass all the territory in the state, exceptterritories within cities and Indian reservations. These 932 towns varywidely in size and population. Town governments have the authority tooffer a full range of services to their residents as well as the flexibility toorganize themselves around local needs.

Historically, towns were mostly rural and functioned as an arm of thestate government—organizing elections, administering courts, andbuilding and maintaining roads. Yet as towns grew, so did the needs ofresidents at the town level. In 1964 towns were granted home rulepowers. These powers have enabled urban and suburban towns toexpand their authority to provide many of the same services offered bya city—water, sewage disposal, street lighting, and recreationalfacilities, to name a few. Town governments also have the power to levyand collect taxes, most importantly property taxes.

The legislative body of the town is usually the town board or council,with members elected at large. Many towns also have a townsupervisor to take care of administrative duties. The state's Town Lawdoes not provide for an executive branch at the town level, thoughmany people think of the supervisor in this way. The supervisor,however, is a part of the legislative branch and functions as a fullmember of the board. For the judicial branch, town citizens elect twojustices to serve in their town court.

Village Government

In New York, the village government is a voluntary municipalcorporation formed by residents to provide themselves with services.Historically, people formed villages when they wanted a specific servicethat might not be needed for their entire town, such as police servicesor street lights. The village—not the whole town—was then taxed forthe service. The village remained part of the town or towns in which itwas located, and residents continued to pay taxes in the town.

Today, many of New York's 556 villages are in the areas surroundinglarge cities, and they serve residents in ways similar to counties, cities,and towns. The formation of new villages has slowed in recent decades,in part because of the use of special districts to serve the same need.Just as villages are formed by local action, they can also be dissolved bylocal action under state law. Nine villages were dissolved in the 1990sand only one since then.



The board of trustees, the legislative body of the village, is made up offour members and a mayor. This elected board has the power to

• organize itself and set procedures;• adopt a budget and finance village activities;• create and abolish offices, boards, agencies, andcommissions and define their powers;• manage village properties; and• grant approval of appointments made by the mayor.

The chief executive officer of most villages is the mayor, though themayor is also a voting member of the legislature. The mayor isresponsible for enforcing laws and supervising the police and otheremployees of the village. Sixty-seven villages in New York have alsocreated the office of village manager or administrator. A village mightalso have a treasurer and clerk, usually appointed by the mayor. Somehave their own village justice office, while others rely on town justices.

Village services vary widely, from basic road repair and snow removalto large-scale development projects and public utilities. Like most localgovernments, village governments rely strongly on property taxrevenues to pay for services. Other sources of revenue are user fees,sales taxes, and license and rental fees.

One of the main functions of villages, towns, and cities is land-useplanning. The state encourages municipalities to draw upcomprehensive plans for construction and development. The villageboard has strong local zoning authority, and land-use decisionscontinue to generate heated debate in local communities.

Special Districts

In addition to general-purpose municipalities, New York has a numberof special purpose units of government. These districts and authoritiesshare one thing in common: they each provide a single service.

School districts The entire state of New York is divided into schooldistricts, the boundaries of which do not necessarily follow the lines oftowns, cities, villages, or counties. The constitutional basis for schooldistrict organization comes from Article XI, section 1 of the stateconstitution: “The legislature shall provide for the maintenance andsupport of a system of free common schools, wherein all the children ofthe state may be educated.”

Education in the state of New York is the largest single area of expense



for local governments, making up one-third of all local governmentexpenditures in the state. In 2017-2018, the 732 school districts in NewYork enrolled more than 2.6 million students and spent over $82 billion.About half of the funding comes from property taxes, with state andfederal aid the second and third largest sources, respectively.

With the exception of the five cities with populations over 125,000,where the school budget is a part of the municipal budget, each districtis its own governmental unit, with the power to levy taxes and incurdebt. The Board of Regents of the University of the State of New Yorkdetermines education policy, and the State Education Departmentsupervises public schools.

Fire districts Like school districts, fire districts have the legal status ofindependent local governments. They may contract debt and requirelocal municipalities to levy taxes on their behalf.

While cities and villages may have their own fire departments, townshave no authority to provide fire protection. Originally towns weresparsely enough populated that volunteer brigades managedfirefighting. Later, citizens banded together to form fire districts andfire protections districts.

Special improvement districts Generically referred to as authorities,these districts are public benefit corporations. They exist to meetdiverse local needs, such as parking, housing, sewage treatment, watersupply, industrial development, libraries, and transportation.

Public benefit corporations make sense for services that are bestprovided on a regional basis. They also have the power to financethemselves through rents or user fees without having to levy additionaltaxes. In addition, authorities are not subject to some of theconstitutional restraints placed on general-purpose governments. Forexample, authorities are not subject to constitutional debt limitations.Their relative independence and freedom from electoral control hassometimes caused concern and a call for greater regulation andoversight of public authorities.

Local Governments and the State

Though New York local governments enjoy strong home rule authority,there are still state restrictions and constitutional limits on their powers.Even with constitutional guidelines and state laws, there are gray areasabout which overlapping entity should manage a particularresponsibility. Tensions sometimes arise between state and local



governments over providing and paying for services.

Limits to local government power In addition to the constitutionallimits on local finances described above, additional constitutional limitson local governments include the following:

• The state legislature may remove local officers formisconduct.• The constitution sets terms, powers, and duties of certaincounty officers.• The state civil-service merit system appoints mostgovernment workers, guided by state rules.• Local courts and school districts must follow uniformstate rules.• Local governments that provide low-rent housing andnursing homes must follow state rules.

In addition, the New York legislature may pass general laws that relateto local property or governments as long as the laws apply equally to allmunicipalities.

Sharing responsibilities New York residents receive a broad range ofservices. Much of the state's total expenditures are on education,welfare, health care, and the environment. State and local governmentsshare responsibility for providing these services, and in many caseslocal governments carry them out. These governments face thechallenge of how to finance and supervise these services to ensureuniform services across the state.

In some cases, the federal or state government will mandate services,requiring that local governments take on a specific responsibility. Thesemandates often have an impact on local finances. Local governmentsprotest the burdens of state-mandated standards and programs. Theyargue that the state, with its broader revenue base, should take onmore of the cost.

Texas Local GovernmentsThis essay analyzes the structure and functions of Texas's localgovernments, including the relationship between local and stategovernments.

Overview



Texas has three basic categories of local government: county, city, andspecial district. In Texas there are 254 county governments, 1,209 citygovernments, and 3,372 special district governments, including 1,031public school systems. Some of these political subdivisions werecreated by the Texas constitution, while others were established bylaws created by the state legislature.

During the early days of statehood, the legislature carved up the largecounties from Spanish and Mexican governments into smaller counties.It also incorporated cities. Under the constitution of 1876, a generalstate law allowed local incorporation of cities, but the legislature stillwrote many municipal charters. In 1912 a “home rule” constitutionalamendment allowed certain cities to decide their own structure andsome of their powers, rather than have the state govern thesedecisions. Unlike these cities, Texas counties lack home rule. Localgovernments must comply with the constitution and with state law,both of which can be detailed and limiting.

Specifications for the organization of local governments are scatteredthroughout the constitution and cover such areas as taxation,spending, and local officers including county and local judges, taxassessors and collectors, treasurers, and surveyors. Because countieswere the most important unit of local government when the constitutionwas first drafted, they are mentioned many more times than aremunicipalities, even in Article XI, which is dedicated to “municipalcorporations.”

County Governments

With 254 counties, Texas has by far the most counties of any state. Itslargest county, Brewster County, covers 6,200 square miles—largerthan the state of Connecticut. Its most populous county is HarrisCounty, with 4,652,980 people in the 2017 census, and its leastpopulous is Loving County, with 134 residents.

County governments have many functions. They are responsible forpublic safety, roads, jails, public health, and elections. They act as anarm of the state by performing state functions such as conductingelections, implementing public health initiatives, and processing carregistrations. At the same time, county governments are locally electedand serve the needs of their residents.

Structure Just as the Texas constitution of 1876 sought to limit stategovernment's power by distributing authority among the pluralexecutive, so, too, does the constitution fragment county authority.



County offices include a county judge, commissioners, a countyattorney, a sheriff, a treasurer, an auditor, a tax assessor and collector,a county clerk, judges, a district clerk, justices of the peace, andconstables.

Authority In keeping with their goal of limiting government, theframers of the Texas constitution of 1876 included many details aboutwhat counties can and cannot do. County governments do not havegeneral ordinance-making authority, meaning they do not have theright to adopt local ordinances on a wide range of subjects.Consequently, when new problems arise, county governments must goto the state legislature to gain new authority. The Texas Association ofCounties—which lobbies the legislature on behalf of countygovernments—has tried many times to persuade the legislature toexpand county authority but has made few inroads.

An important function of the commissioners court is redistricting theprecincts to align with the federal mandate of one person, one vote.They also have constitutional authority to make county budgets anddecide on tax rates. The other functions the constitution vests in countygovernment include building seawalls in coastal counties, prohibitingalcohol sales, and establishing poor houses, which were government-supported homes for the poor.

Finally, a key function of county governments is administeringelections. Because counties have independent authority, electionprocedures sometimes vary from county to county. After the 2000presidential election revealed voting irregularities in Florida, the Texaslegislature took steps to reform its voting systems statewide.

City Governments

Of Texas's 1,209 cities, about 300 have opted for home rule under the1912 home-rule amendment, which allows cities with more than 5,000people to write their own city charter. A home-rule city can decide whatstructure and authority to give its city government. The rest of Texascities are known as general-law cities, meaning that they are governedby the general laws of the state.

Structure Most general-law cities have a mayor-council form ofgovernment, as mandated by the state's Local Government Code. Inthe mayor-council form, the mayor is elected at large. Council membersor aldermen may be elected at large, but are usually chosen from wardsor aldermanic districts. The mayor serves as chief executive officer,presiding at council meetings, heading the police force, and acting as



the budgetary officer of the city. The council serves as the legislativebody and has some approval powers over actions of the mayor. In weakmayor-council governments the council also has some executiveauthority, and the mayor's powers are more symbolic. In strong mayor-council models the mayor plays a stronger executive role.

Home-rule cities may choose among four general types of localgovernment: weak mayor-council, strong mayor-council, council-manager, and city commission. Almost all home-rule cities have chosenthe council-manager form of government. In this system, an electedcity council and mayor set policy, while a hired manager runs citybusiness. Unlike county elections, municipal elections in Texas arenonpartisan.

Authority Like county governments, city governments serve manyfunctions. They provide an array of services to their residents, includingpolice, fire, public works, recreation, and health. They have wideauthority in how to go about providing services and may sometimeshire private companies to handle a particular service such as garbagecollection. City governments also have regulatory authority. They makezoning ordinances and regulate building and development.

Just as counties have the Texas Association of Counties to serve as theirgovernments' voice in the capital, city governments also have a lobbygroup. The Texas Municipal League seeks to defend cities' authoritiesand powers in the legislature. It also provides legal assistance to citiesin conflicts with counties and the Texas Association of Counties.

Special Districts

The constitution both sets up some special districts and allows foradditional special districts to be created by the legislature, counties,and cities. While county and city governments perform many functions,special districts are designed to perform a single function.

School districts are the most numerous special districts in Texas, with1,031 public school systems. An elected board of trustees governs eachschool district. The board sets policies for the district, determines thedistrict property-tax rate, generates income for the schools, and hiresthe superintendent that runs the schools. The elected State Board ofEducation, the governor-appointed commissioner of education, and theTexas Education Agency have some statewide authority over schooldistricts, and districts have accountability to these organizations.

School districts are one type of special district set up by the state



constitution. Others include road districts, hospital districts, juniorcollege districts, airport authorities, and tax appraisal districts.Examples of special districts set up by laws are crime control andprevention districts, municipal utility districts, metropolitan transitauthorities, sports facility districts, and water districts.

Tribal GovernmentsThis essay describes the powers and rights of American Indian tribalgovernments, especially as they relate to national, state, and localgovernments.

Tribal Recognition and the Status of TribalGovernments

The U.S. federal government recognizes 573 American Indian tribes. Inaddition, some tribes are recognized by a state government but not bythe federal government. Tribes vary widely in size, but to be federallyrecognized they must prove, among other things, that they haveexisted as a distinct community since “historical times,” that theyoperate as a “single autonomous political entity,” and that they havegoverning procedures.

These tribal governments are defined as “domestic dependent nations.”Indian nations are sovereign and their unique political and legalstanding has evolved. Under the Commerce Clause in the Constitution,the United States and Congress has the power “To regulate Commercewith foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the IndianTribes.” This clause, along with contemporary policy, stresses that theUnited States and American Indian nations have a “government-to-government relationship”—that is, the tribal government is to betreated as equal in standing to the federal government. It alsoemphasizes the federal government's “trust responsibility,” itsobligation to protect tribal assets and seek the welfare of AmericanIndian communities. Most Indian lands are held in trust by the U.S.government, which provides programs and services to members of thetribes.

Powers and Limitations of Tribal Governments

Tribal governments in the United States vary widely in size andstructure. The smallest tribe, the Augustine Band of Cahuilla Indians inCalifornia, has only eight members, and its government consists of a



tribal chairperson. By contrast, the Navajo Nation has 350,000members, with a tribal council of 24 district delegates representing 110chapters, or communities.

Indian nations have the power to form their own governments andadopt their own constitutions. Many tribal governments predate theUnited States' own federal government; indeed, some tribes have hadconstitutions for hundreds of years. In 1934 the federal governmentsought to standardize how tribes governed themselves, enacting theIndian Reorganization Act. The act promised certain benefits to tribesthat adopted a constitution similar to the U.S. Constitution. Many tribescomplied, setting up governments similar in structure to that of thefederal government, often with executive, legislative, and judicialbranches. Yet many others continued to govern themselves accordingto long-standing tradition. In recent years some tribes have undertakena process of constitutional reform to create more effective andculturally appropriate governments.

Indian nations also have the power to enforce their own civil andcriminal laws, to tax their citizens, to establish their own criteria formembership in the tribe, to license and regulate activities on triballands, and to exclude persons from tribal territory. Tribal governments,like state governments, have specific limits to their powers. Forexample, they may not engage in foreign relations with other nations,make war on another nation, or coin their own money.

Tribal Governments and the Federal Government

Federal policy toward tribal governments has a long and complicatedhistory shaped by the Constitution, Supreme Court decisions, executiveorders, existing federal policy, and tribal laws. Each tribe's relationshipto the federal government is slightly different, depending on individualtreaties, unique relationships, and particular agreements. Regardless ofspecial circumstances, though, federal policy is to approach interactionsat a government-to-government level.

Central to the relationship between the tribes and the federalgovernment is the so-called trust relationship. The Department of theInterior's Bureau of Indian Affairs manages th

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