Chapter14LocalandStateGovernment.pptx
Chapter 14 State and Local Government
PL-102-OL1
Instructor Walter Pearn
Chapter Objectives
Explain how the balance of power between national and state governments shifted with the drafting and ratification of the Constitution.
Identify parts of the Constitution that grant power to the national government and parts that support states’ rights.
Identify two fiscal policies by which the federal government exerts control over state policy decisions.
Compare Daniel Elazar’s three forms of political culture.
Describe how cultural differences between the states can shape attitudes about the role of government and citizen participation.
Discuss the main criticisms of Daniel Elazar’s theory.
Chapter Objectives
Identify the formal powers and responsibilities of modern-day governors.
List the basic functions performed by state legislatures.
Describe how state legislatures vary in size, diversity, party composition, and professionalism.
Describe the history of state legislative term limits.
Compare the costs and benefits of term limits.
Identify the differences between county and municipal governments in terms of their responsibilities and funding sources.
Describe the two primary types of municipal government and the three basic types of county government.
STATE POWER AT THE FOUNDING
Before the ratification of the Constitution, the state governments’ power far exceeded that held by the national government.
The national government was limited, lacking both a president to oversee domestic and foreign policy and a system of federal courts to settle disputes between the states.
Each state legislature appointed its own Congressional representatives, subject to recall by the states, and each state was given the authority to collect taxes from its citizens.
Limiting national government power was not the delegates’ only priority. They also wanted to prevent any given state from exceeding the authority and independence of the others.
The delegates ultimately worked to create a level playing field between the individual states that formed the confederation. For instance, the Articles of Confederation could not be amended without the approval of each state, and each state received one vote in Congress, regardless of population.1
STATE POWER AT THE FOUNDING
Congress struggled to conduct business and to ensure the financial credibility of the new country’s government.
One difficulty was its inability to compel the individual states to cover their portion of Revolutionary War debt.
Attempts to recoup these funds through the imposition of tariffs were vetoed by states with a vested financial interest in their failure.
Given the inherent weaknesses in the system set up by the Articles, in 1787 the delegates came together once again to consider amendments to the Articles, but they ended up instead considering a new design for the government.
Today this structure of power sharing is referred to as federalism.
Ultimately, the framers settled on a system in which power would be shared: The national government had its core duties, the state governments had their duties, and other duties were shared equally between them.
STATE POWER AT THE FOUNDING
The specific delegated or expressed powers granted to Congress and to the president were clearly spelled out in the body of the Constitution under Article I, Section 8, and Article II, Sections 2 and 3.
Powers Not Specified: The Tenth Amendment
All powers not granted to the U.S. Congress by Article I, Section 8 are left to the states. Worried that these limitations to the powers of the federal government were not clearly enough stated in the original Constitution, the First Congress adopted the Tenth Amendment, which clearly states that all powers not granted to the federal government are reserved to the states or the people.
STATE POWER AT THE FOUNDING
Despite the Constitution’s broad grants of state authority, one of the central goals of the Anti-Federalists, a group opposed to several components of the Constitution, was to preserve state government authority, protect the small states, and keep government power concentrated in the hands of the people.
The Tenth Amendment was included in the Bill of Rights to create a class of powers, known as reserved powers, exclusive to state governments. The amendment specifically reads, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” In essence, if the Constitution does not decree that an activity should be performed by the national government and does not restrict the state government from engaging in it, then the state is seen as having the power to perform the function. In other words, the power is reserved to the states.
STATE POWER AT THE FOUNDING
The national government was given implied powers that, while not clearly stated, are inferred.
These powers stem from the elastic clause in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, which provides Congress the authority “to make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the Foregoing powers.”
This statement has been used to support the federal government’s playing a role in controversial policy matters, such as the provision of healthcare, the expansion of power to levy and collect taxes, and regulation of interstate commerce.
Finally, Article VI declared that the U.S. Constitution and any laws or treaties made in connection with that document were to supersede constitutions and laws made at the state level. This clause, better known as the supremacy clause, makes clear that any conflict in law between the central (or federal) government and the regional (or state) governments is typically resolved in favor of the central government.
STATE POWER AT THE FOUNDING
Besides reserved powers, the states also retained concurrent powers, or responsibilities shared with the national government.
As part of this package of powers, the state and federal governments each have the right to collect income tax from their citizens and corporate tax from businesses. They also share responsibility for building and maintaining the network of interstates and highways and for making and enforcing laws .
For instance, many state governments have laws regulating motorcycle and bicycle helmet use, banning texting and driving, and prohibiting driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
POWER AT THE SUBSTATE LEVEL
The U.S. Constitution is silent on the dispersion of power between states and localities within each state.
The power independent of the federal government resides first with the state.
Through their own constitutions and statutes, states decide what to require of local jurisdictions and what to delegate.
This structure represents the legal principle of Dillon’s Rule, named for Iowa Supreme Court justice John F. Dillon. Dillon argued that state actions trump those of the local government and have supremacy.
In this view, cities and towns exist at the pleasure of the state.
Indeed, most states have supremacy clauses over local governments in their constitutions.
POWER AT THE SUBSTATE LEVEL
State and local governments must work together to ensure that citizens receive adequate services.
Given the necessity of cooperation, many states have granted local governments some degree of autonomy and given them discretion to make policy or tax decisions.
This added independence is called home rule, and the transfer of power is typically spelled out within a charter.
Charters are similar to state constitutions: they provide a framework and a detailed accounting of local government responsibilities and areas of authority.
Property taxes
Can be assessed on homes, land, and businesses.
The local government’s reliance on property tax revenue can be problematic.
First, unlike sales tax, the collection of which is spaced out in small increments across multiple transactions, property tax is collected in one or two lump sums and is therefore highly visible and unpopular.
Response to tax rate increases, many states have placed legal or constitutional limits on regional governments’ ability to raise property taxes.
Drawback to local governments’ reliance on property tax:
Is that property values vary with the economic health of a given area
The quality of school districts
The overall desirability of a state, municipality, or county.
Significant parcels of land in many cities are also tax-exempt, including property occupied by colleges, churches, and other nonprofit organizations. Boston is a good example as almost 50 percent of the assessed value of property is tax-exempt.16 College towns face the same challenge.
Mortgage crisis began in 2007
Property values decreased in many areas of the country
Many homeowners defaulted on their mortgages because their homes were now worth less than they had borrowed to buy them.
Decline in property values, local governments faced a loss in tax revenue at the same time states were cutting back on aid; tax collections were also down because of economic conditions and the inability to derive income tax from internet sales.
A number of municipalities filed for bankruptcy in the face of fiscal distress during the economic recession.
MORALISTIC POLITICAL CULTURE
Sees the government as a means to better society and promote the general welfare.
Expect political officials to be honest in their dealings with others
Put the interests of the people they serve above their own
Commit to improving the area they represent.
The political process is seen in a positive light and not as a vehicle tainted by corruption.
Moralistic states thus tend to support an expanded role for government.
They are more likely to believe government should promote the general welfare by allocating funds to programs that will benefit the poor.
See it as the duty of public officials to advocate for new programs that will benefit marginal citizens or solve public policy problems, even when public pressure to do so is nonexistent.
MORALISTIC POLITICAL CULTURE
States that identify with this culture value citizen engagement and desire citizen participation in all forms of political affairs.
In Elazar’s model, citizens from moralistic states should be more likely to donate their time and/or resources to political campaigns and to vote. This occurs for two main reasons.
First, state law is likely to make it easier for residents to register and to vote because mass participation is valued.
Second, citizens who hail from moralistic states should be more likely to vote because elections are truly contested. In other words, candidates will be less likely to run unopposed and more likely to face genuine competition from a qualified opponent.
According to Elazar, the heightened competition is a function of individuals’ believing that public service is a worthwhile endeavor and an honorable profession.
INDIVIDUALISTIC POLITICAL CULTURE
Sees the government as a mechanism for addressing issues that matter to individual citizens and for pursuing individual goals.
People in this culture interact with the government in the same manner they would interact with a marketplace.
They expect the government to provide goods and services they see as essential, and the public officials and bureaucrats who provide them expect to be compensated for their efforts.
The focus is on meeting individual needs and private goals rather than on serving the best interests of everyone in the community.
New policies will be enacted if politicians can use them to garner support from voters or other interested stakeholders, or if there is great demand for these services on the part of individuals.
Given their focus on pursuing individual objectives, states with an individualistic mindset will tend to advance tax breaks as a way of trying to boost a state’s economy or as a mechanism for promoting individual initiative and entrepreneurship.
For instance, New Jersey governor Chris Christie made headlines in 2015 when discussing the incentives he used to attract businesses to the state. Christie encouraged a number of businesses to move to Camden, where unemployment has risen to almost 14 percent, by providing them with hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks.
INDIVIDUALISTIC POLITICAL CULTURE
The governor hopes these corporate incentives will spur job creation for citizens who need employment in an economically depressed area of the state.
Since this theoretical lens assumes that the objective of politics and the government is to advance individual interests.
They will tend to remain involved if they get enjoyment from their participation or rewards in the form of patronage appointments or financial compensation.
As a result of these personal motivations, citizens in individualistic states will tend to be more tolerant of corruption among their political leaders and less likely to see politics as a noble profession in which all citizens should engage.
Voters are loyal to the candidates who hold the same party affiliation they do. As a result, unlike the case in moralistic cultures, voters do not pay much attention to the personalities of the candidates when deciding how to vote and are less tolerant of third-party candidates.
TRADITIONALISTIC POLITICAL CULTURE
Sees the government as necessary to maintaining the existing social order, the status quo.
Only elites belong in the political enterprise, and as a result, new public policies will be advanced only if they reinforce the beliefs and interests of those in power.
Like the individualistic culture, the traditionalistic culture believes in the importance of the individual. But instead of profiting from corporate ventures, settlers in traditionalistic states tied their economic fortunes to the necessity of slavery on plantations throughout the South.
When elected officials do not prioritize public policies that benefit them, those on the social and economic fringes of society can be plagued by poverty and pervasive health problems.
For example, poverty is a problem across the United States, the South has the highest incidence.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the South also leads the nation in self-reported obesity, closely followed by the Midwest. These statistics present challenges for lawmakers not only in the short term but also in the long term, because they must prioritize fiscal constraints in the face of growing demand for services.
TRADITIONALISTIC POLITICAL CULTURE
While moralistic cultures expect and encourage political participation by all citizens, traditionalistic cultures are more likely to see it as a privilege reserved for only those who meet the qualifications.
As a result, voter participation will generally be lower in a traditionalistic culture, and there will be more barriers to participation (e.g., a requirement to produce a photo ID at the voting booth).
Conservatives argue that these laws reduce or eliminate fraud on the part of voters, while liberals believe they disproportionally disenfranchise the poor and minorities and constitute a modern-day poll tax.
GOVERNORS IN CHARGE
Anyone elected to the office of governor assumes tremendous responsibility overnight.
He or she becomes the spokesperson for the state and their political party
Accepts blame or praise for handling decision-making in times of crisis
Oversees the implementation of public policy and helps shepherd legislation through the lawmaking process.
Governors must learn to work well with other lawmakers, bureaucrats, cabinet officials, and with the citizens who elected them to office in the first place. The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, provides a good case in point.
Three of the governor’s chief functions are to:
Influence the legislative process through an executive budget proposal
A policy agenda
Vetoes.
GOVERNORS IN CHARGE
The ability to veto legislation is just one of the formal powers governors have at their disposal.
Formal powers: are powers the governor may exercise that are specifically outlined in state constitutions or state law.
Unlike U.S. presidents, many governors also have additional veto powers at their disposal, which enhances their ability to check the actions of the legislative branch. For instance, most states provide governors the power of the line-item veto.
Line-item veto gives governors the ability to strike out a line or individual portions of a bill while letting the remainder pass into law.
Approximately 30 percent of governors have the power of an amendatory veto, which allows them to send a bill back to the legislature and request a specific amendment to it.
Finally, a small number of governors, including the governor of Texas, also have the power of a reduction veto, which allows them to reduce the budget proposed in a piece of legislation.
GOVERNORS IN CHARGE
Pardon absolves someone of blame for a crime and can secure his or her release from prison.
Governors can also commute sentences, reducing the time an individual must serve, if there are doubts about the person’s guilt, concerns about his or her mental health, or reason to feel the punishment was inappropriately harsh.
In the past ten years, the governors of New Jersey and Illinois have commuted the sentences of all inmates on death row before repealing the death penalty in their states.
THE FUNCTIONS OF STATE LEGISLATURES
State legislatures serve three primary functions.
Researching
Writing
Passing legislation.
Members represent their districts and work to meet requests for help from citizens within it. Finally, legislatures perform an oversight function for the executive branch.
THE FUNCTIONS OF STATE LEGISLATURES
Delegate legislator represents the will of those who elected him or her to office and acts in their expressed interest, even when it goes against personal belief about what is ultimately in the constituency’s best interest.
Trustees believe they were elected to exercise their own judgment and know best because they have the time and expertise to study and understand an issue.
Thus, a trustee will be willing to vote against the desire of the constituency so long as he or she believes it is in the people’s best interest. A trustee will also be more likely to vote his or her conscience on issues that are personal to him or her, such as on same-sex marriage or abortion rights.
THE COMPOSITION OF STATE LEGISLATURES
In most states, the legislative function is divided between two bodies: a state house and a state senate.
New Jersey Assembly and Senate.
New Jersey Legislature.
Assembly has consisted of 80 members.
Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts for a term of two years, each representing districts with average populations of 210,359.
To be eligible to run, a potential candidate must be at least 21 years of age and must have lived in their district for at least one year prior to the election and have lived in the state of New Jersey for two years.
They also must be residents of their districts.
Membership in the Assembly is considered a part-time job, and many members have employment in addition to their legislative work.
Assembly members serve two-year terms, elected every odd-numbered year in November.
THE COMPOSITION OF STATE LEGISLATURES
New Jersey Senate was established as the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature.
There are 40 legislative districts, representing districts with average populations of 210,359.
Each district has one senator.
Prior to the election in which they are chosen, senators must be a minimum of 30 years old and a resident of the state for four years to be eligible to serve in office.
NJ Senator can serve one two-year term, and two four-year terms every ten years is considered a 2-4-4 term system.
THE BASICS OF TERM LIMITS
Term limits restrict the length of time a member can serve in the state legislature by capping either lifetime service or the number of consecutive terms.
Consecutive term limits, a member can serve for only a specified period of time in either the state house or the state senate, most commonly eight years.
To try to regain a seat in the legislature once the limit has been met, the member will have to wait to run for office again. If the member succeeds, the clock will reset, and the legislator may once again serve up to the limit set by the state.
In states with a lifetime ban, such as Oklahoma, members can serve only one time for the number of years allotted, and they are not permitted to run for office again.
COUNTY GOVERNMENT
The most common form of county government is the commission system. Under this structure, an elected commission, which generally consists of a small number of commissioners, serves as the governing body within the county, performing all legislative and executive functions. These include adopting a budget, passing county resolutions, and hiring and firing county officials.77
Under the council-administrator system, the voters elect council members to serve for a specified period of time, and the council in turn appoints an administrator to oversee the operation of the government. The administrator serves at the directive of the council and can be terminated by the council. The goal of this arrangement is to divide administrative and policymaking responsibilities between the elected council and the appointed administrator.78
Under a council-elected executive system, the voters elect both the members of the council and the executive. The executive performs functions similar to those of the state governor. For instance, he or she can veto the actions of the council, draft a budget, and provide suggestions regarding public policy.
COUNTY GOVERNMENT
Although the tasks they perform can vary from state to state, most counties have:
Courthouse
County officials, such as the sheriff, the county clerk, the assessor, the treasurer, the coroner, and the engineer.
For instance, the county coroner investigates the cause of death when suspicious circumstances are present. The county clerk oversees the registration of voters and certifies election results for the county. In addition, this officeholder typically keeps the official birth, death, and marriage records.
The county treasurer oversees the collection and distribution of funds within the county, while the county assessor conducts property tax evaluations and informs individual citizens or business owners of their right to contest the appraised value of their property.
A county engineer will oversee the maintenance and construction of county infrastructure.
In short, counties help to maintain roads and bridges, courthouses and jails, parks and pools, and public libraries, hospitals, and clinics.
CITY GOVERNMENT
The majority of municipal governments operate on one of two governing models: a mayor-council system or a council-manager system.
Under the mayor-council system voters elect both a mayor and members of the city council.
The city council performs legislative functions and the mayor the executive functions.
Under this system, the mayor may be given a great deal of authority or only limited powers.
Under a strong mayor system, the mayor will be able to veto the actions of the council, appoint and fire the heads of city departments, and produce a budget.
Under a weak mayor system, the mayor has little authority compared to the council and acts in a ceremonial capacity as a spokesperson for the city.
CITY GOVERNMENT
In a council-manager system of government, either the members of the city council are elected by voters along with a mayor who presides over the council, or the voters elect members of the city council and the mayor is chosen from among them.
In either case, the city council will then appoint a city manager to carry out the administrative functions of the municipal government.
This frees the city council to address political functions such as setting policy and formulating the budget.
Questions ?
