GOVT 327
Module one:
*to recognize the importance of State and local government in contemporary america.
State and local gov. are meant to make policy and provide services to the public. They are
expected to work fairly and effectively with minimal funds and little recognition. Their goal is to
maximize their output (services) from their given output (resources).
Efficiently, effectively, fairly.
Innovation has become a buzzword for localities.
Evidence-based practices: making decisions based on the best research findings available.
State and localities are capable of being central in the federal system.
Capacity: the ability of the government to respond effectively to change, make decisions
efficiently and responsibly, and manage conflict.
-bureaucracy
-responsible and democratic governance: everybody has to have a say
-federalism and intergovernmental relations:
Federalism: a system of government in which powers are divided between a central (national)
government and regional (state) governments.
Juridictions: (state, local, national) possess policy making authority over specific but sometimes
overlapping territory.
8/25: Chapter 1:
From sewers to science refers to how broad the responsibilities and issues of the state and local
governments have.
Historical context:
*to identify ways in which state and localities have increased their capacity.
1950s-1960’s
-elite dominance
-inefficient and ineffective services
Post 1980’s: resurgence
-increased state role
-proactive
5 core areas of governments:
-Education, Public safety, Public health, Infrastructure, Defense
How states increased their capacity:
-changes in legislative apportionment
-increased lobbying presence
-modernized constitutions
Increased capacity and improved performance:
1. improved revenue systems ****MONEY***
a. Rainy day funds
2. expanded scope of state operations
a. Innovators and experimenters of state policies
3. faster diffusion of innovations
4. interjurisdictional cooperation
a. informal consultations and agreements, interstate committees, consumer
protection, ect.
5. increased national-state conflict
a. unfunded mandates
Challenges facing state and local governments:
-fiscal stress
-downsizing, tax increases
-increased interjurisdictional conflict
-natural resources and economic development
-political corruption
-more transparency
The People: designers and consumers of government
Ethnic-racial composition:
- Since the 2000-2010 census both asain and latino communities had risen.
- 2010-2020 census both latino and african american communities have risen.
Illegal immigration:
- DREAM act (DACA)
- 2010 Arizona immigration law
Population growth and migration:
- From 2010 to 2019, the united states grew by almost 6%
- High Rates of growth in the sunbelt
- Population changes carry political and economic consequences
Political Culture
- “It's our thing”
- Elazar’s classification of political cultures
- Individualistic: open marketplace, self-motivated
- Moralistic: moral obligation to create good and just society
- Traditionalistic: elite-driven activity to maintain status quo
- Socioeconomic characteristics and political structure factors.
Culture Wars
Culture affects policy in conflict over moral issues such as:
- Same-sex marriage
- Abortion
- Religion
- Politics
- Reactions to COVID-19
***THE STATES ARE THE DRIVERS OF ALL THINGS POLICY***
Chapter 2:
***antifederalist were not against federalism***
Division of government power and responsibility
- Unitary
- Confederate
- Federal
The Advantages of Federalism
- Manages social and political conflict
- Promotes administrative efficiency
- Encourages innovation
- Maximizes political participation in government
The Disadvantages of Federalism
- Conflicts can escalate
- Coordination problems across governments
- Ineffective national government programs
- Local biases harmful to national interests
Early History
Devices to control factions in the US constitution
- Representative government with citizen elections
- Division of government into three branches
- Federal system with majority controlled by the sovereign states
State-centered Federalism
- Preferred by jefferson and the republicans
- Saw the constitution as a compact that maintained the sovereignty of the states
- Compact theory
- Ultimately resulted in secession by the eleven states
***Constitutional Distribution of Powers Figure 2.1***
Models of Federalism:
- Dual Federalism (1787-1932)
- Cooperative Federalism (1933-1964)
- Civil rights act of 1964
- Voting rights act of 1965
- Contemporary variations on Cooperative Federalism (Since 1964)
- Creative federalism:
- New federalism
- Devolution (the power was returned to the states)
- Coercive federalism:
- “Jenga” federalism: all the state powers are so intertwined that if one fails they all
fail.
Intergovernmental relations:
Tribal Governments
- McGirt v. Oklahoma (2020)
- Tribal recognition by the federal government
Interstate Cooperation
- Cooperation under the Constitution
- Full faith and credit clause:
- Interstate rendition clause
- Privileges and immunities clause
- Interstate compact clause
- Informal cooperation among the states
- Regional interstate commissions
- Uniform laws:
- Information sharing
- Interstate compacts
- Arbitration: Fed becomes mediator.
- Intergovernmental Financial relations
- Grant-in-aid
- Discretion of Recipients
- Categorical
- Block
- Conditions for grants
- Formula
- Project
Federal Purse Strings…
The importance of federal funds
- Aid to states and localities is small share of federal budget but is 31% of state and local
governments revenues
- Most non-grant payments are from social security, medicaid, wages to federal employees
Here's the money and here's what you must do with it: Mandates and preemptions
- Federal mandates
Funded and unfunded
Total preemption and partial preemption
The Future of Federalism
- Greater public trust in state and local governments than the federal
- Social and economic factor will play a huge role in the future of federalism
- Homeland security and disaster response
September 6th:
4 commonwealths (look them up)
We’ll look at three state constitutions
Connecticut: main slave port (referenced in other constitutions)
Virginia: wealthiest states because of slave trade **virginia declaration of independence**
Massachusetts: first state constitution to add amendments
~Constitutions represent the fundamental law of a state, superior to statutory law.~
First state constitutions
- Natural rights and popular sovereignty identified
- Inalienable rights, jefferson and being influenced by john locke, maddison writing
about freedom of thoughts (individual can be just as tyrannical as a government),
jefferson - religious freedoms “you cannot tax opinion”
- Territorial integrity not well defined
- Bad maps
- Extensions of colonial charters
Legislative Supremacy
Legislative Supremacy: the legislatures dominance of the other two branches of government
Weaknesses of the constitutions
- Excessive length
- Problems of substance
- Lacked specificity
- Long ballots
- Too many local governments
Constitutional Reform:
- Model state constitution developed in 1921
- Two state constitutions are evident today:
- Positive-law tradition: a state constitutional tradition based on detailed provisions
and procedures
- Higher-law tradition: a state constitutional tradition based on basic and enduring
principles that reach beyond statutory law.
- Essential state constitution
- Bill of rights
- Power of the state
- Suffrage and elections
- The legislative branch and executive branch
- The judicial branch
- Finance
- Local government
- Public education
- Civil service
- Intergovernmental relations
- Constitutional revision
- Constitutions today
Methods of constitutional change:
- Informal change
- One informal and four formal methods for amending state constitution exist
- The informal route is interpretation
- Judicial review: the power of the U.S. Supreme Court or state supreme courts to
declare unconstitutional actions of the executive and legislative branches as well
as decisions of lower courts.
- Formal constitution change
- Ratification
-
- Initiative
- Direct
- Indirect
- Constitutional Convention
- Constitutional Commission
September 8th Class Notes:
- A budget is a financial plan for one fiscal year, it shows expenditures and resources. It
authorizes the local government how much money can be spent
- Phase 1: budget officer puts together a proposed budget
- Phase 2: budget committee approves the budget.
- Phase 3: adopting budget and looking at taxes
- Phase 4: occurs during the fiscal year, reviews budget and makes adjustments
- Understand and know different types of funds.
1. Operating budget: You’re
a. Salaries
b. Office equipment
c. Technology
d. Benefits
e. Long term care/disability
f. Public safety
g. Gasoline
2. Capital improvement: You’re investing money
a. Infrastructure
b. Subsidies
i. FEDS
ii. STATE
c. Bonds
Budgetary shift…
Money market account
- Mutual fund: safer investment, guaranteed growth
- CD: certification of deposit
- High yield savings account: as FEDS raise rates you gain money.
- Look into these funds for your budget. START HERE
Budget Requirements:
1. You are required to have a written overview of the budget
a. Infrastructure
b. Lifelong learning
c. Economic development
d. Quality of life
e. Performance measures
f. Budgetary development
g. Citizen engagement
h. General fund
i. Revenues
Capital Improvement program
- CIP flow chart…
1. Written description
2. General fund budget
3. Specific line budget
4. Capital improvement
September 12th class notes:
Participation:
1. Why and how people participate
a. Participation: actions through which ordinary members of a political system
attempt to influence decisions
2. Why
a. To elect public officials
b. Help determine public policy
3. How
4. Nonparticipation
a. Not voting
5. Demographic factors - that affect participation
a. Age
b. Race
c. Geographical location
6. Institutional (political rules)
a. Registration
b. Timing of elections
c. Time polls open
d. Voting equipment
7. Political factors
a. Presidential elections
b. Close races
c. Close races with an ideological emphasis
- Free rider: a person who enjoys the benefit of a public good without bearing the cost
- Social capital: a dense network of reciprocal relations that promotes greater civic
engagement
- The struggle for the Right to Vote
- Women's suffrage: the nineteenth amendment
- Voting Rights Act of 1965
8. Voting patterns
a. Voting-age - 18 and older
b. voting-eligible population
9. Controversy over vote by mail in 2020
Four potential responses of participation:
Loyalty
- Passive constructive (ex. voting)
Voice
- Active constructive
Exit
- Active deconstructive
Neglect
- Passive Deconstructive
Elections:
Primaries
Primary types
- Closed primary
- Open primary
Primary Runoff Elections
- Runoff elections
- Open
- Closed
- Instant runoff
***incumbents choose what type of primary election they want ***
General Elections
- Plurality
- Fusion
- Coattail effect
Recent State Elections
Nonpartisan Elections
- “Teams without Uniforms”
- Judges, sheriff, school board
- Slatting groups: nonpartisan organizations that endorse and promote a slate of candidates
Nonpartisan = supports policy not politicians
Direct Democracy
- Popular referendum: a special type of referendum whereby citizens can petition to vote
on actions taken by legislative bodies
- Referendum: a procedure whereby a governing body submits proposed laws,
constitutional amendments, or bond issues to the voters for ratification
- Recall: A procedure that allows citizens to vote elected officials out of office before their
terms have expired
The Initiative
- The popularity of initiative
- Recent initiative
- Questions about the initiative
The Recall
- Gray Davis
- Scott Walker
Citizens Access to Government
1. Opening up government
a. Open meeting laws
b. Administrative procedure acts
c. Advisory committees
2. E-Government
a. Governmental websites
b. Facebook pages
c. Twittering politicians
3. Volunteerism as participation
a. Volunteerism
b. Adopt a highway program
September 22nd:
Chapter 5… Political parties
Interparty Competition
- Patterns of competition
- Unified government: trifecta
- Divided government
- Consequences of competition
Is the party over?
-Dealignment: the weakening of an individual’s attachment to political paties
- People able to get information from internet
- More independents
- More ticket splitting by voters
- Parties fighting back
Interest groups:
Types
1. Economic or occupational groups
2. Organized labor
3. Ideological
Interest groups in the state
1. Dominant
2. Weak
3. One of many patterns in some states
4. Ebb and flow pattern in remaining states
i. All flow back to DC. why? MONEY
Techniques used by interest groups
- They want a good public image
- Organizing network to exert pressure on legislators
-Direct Action: A form of participation deigned to draw attention to a cause
Lobbying
- Grassroots lobbying: groups mobilization of citizens to contract public officials on
behalf of shared public policy views
-Astroturf lobbying - a lot of donors that didn't give a lot of money but were returners
- Political Action Committees
- 527 groups
New Era of Campaigns:
- Using old and new media
- Use of social media
- “Fake news”
- Foreign government interventions?
- Negative Campaigning
- Political Consultants
September 27th - Chapter 6
Recessions are always based off of the bond market!!!
State legislature are the backbone
The essence of legislatures
- Policy making - enacting la and allocating funds
- representation - constituency representation as voice and advocate to bureaucracy
- Oversight - examine the performance of the bureaucracy
- Casework:legislative assistance on behalf of constituents who have a problem or
grievance with a state agency.
Three structures of legislature
1. Sign PAF (privacy authorization form) >>> 1974
2. Secure signature
3. Go to legislative liaison and contact them
a. Agency dependent
Legislative Dynamics
The senate and the house
- Bicameral
- Senate: four-year; house: two-year term
- Average size: forty members for senate ad 100 members for house
- State legislators in the United States: 7,382
- 1,971 senators; 5,411 representatives
The house tends to act more emotionally/quickly. The senate is meant to work slowly and temper
the house.
Legislative districts
- Based on population
- Single-member districts
- Few with multimember districts (MMDs)
Malapportionment
- Malapportionment: skewed legislative districts
- Reapportionment: reallocation of seats
Redrawing District Lines
- Redistrict: redrawing of distinct lines
- Gerrymander: design districts to favor a political party
October 4th - Module 7 Governors: power, politics, and executive leadership
History of the office
- Originally elected by the legislature
- Plural executive in pennsylvania and georgia
- Office strengthened by
- Longer term
- Popular vote
- Veto power
- Todays governors are very different
- Much more experienced
- Better educated
- Much more diverse
- Getting there: Gubernatorial Campaigns
- MONEY
Flow of elections
- Registrar
- Count
- Recount
- Recount again
- Audit
- Send it to department of elections
- Count
- Recount
- Send to Lt. Governor
- Recount
- Sent to governor
- Recount
- Signed
Campaigns:
1. Oddball candidates
2. Campaigning is expensive
3. Role of incumbency
Being Governor: duties and responsibilities
1. Developing and making policy
2. Marshaling legislative action
a. Relationship with the legislature
b. Executive influence on the legislative agenda
3. Governors and the courts
4. Administering the executive branch
a. Restraints on management
b. Governors as managers
5. Master of ceremonies
a. No power whatsoever. Purely ceremonial.
6. Coordinating intergovernmental relations
7. Promoting economic development
8. Leading the political party
Formal powers of the governor
Formal powers: Powers of the governor derived from the state constitution or statute.
Informal powers: Powers of the governor not derived from constitutional or statutory law.
● Tenure
● Appointment power
● Veto Power
○ Package veto : reject entire bill
○ Line item veto : reject parts of a bill
○ Pocket veto : refuse to sign ill when legislature adjourned
○ Executive amendment : veto and recommend changes
● Budgetary power
○ Has come under attack
○ Executives have started doing what's called a budgetary shift.
○ A budgetary shift is when you take money from a line budget and transfer it to
another.
○ Arguably unconstitutional
Thursday November 10th
Public Employees in state and local governments:
Bureaucracy is paradoxical
- Bureaucracy is often viewed negatively
- Public employees often do an outstanding job of enacting public policy
- Public employees should not be seen as scapegoats for all that is wrong with government
Distinctions between Public and Private Management…
Public management Private management
Constraints Politics , public opinion,
resources
Markets, competitors,
resources
Clients Citizens , legislatures, chief
executives, interest groups
Customers who purchases
products or services
Accountability To citizens and elected and
appointed official
To customers, boards of
directors, and shareholders
Purpose To serve the public interest
and the common good
To make profits and grow the
organization
The Budget Cycle …
1. Preparation
a. Expression of citizen and group interest
b. Revenue estimates by budget office
c. Spending requests by the agencies and departments
2. Formulation
a. Executive budget assembled
b. Public hearings
c. Legislative budget review *
d. Legislative debate
3. Adoption
a. Passed by legislative body
b. Signed by chief executive
4. Execution
a. Transfers of funds to government units
b. Funds expended
c. Financial management
d. Revenue or expenditure adjustments
5. AUDIT
a. Review and evaluation of financial records, program performance, operations, and
management
6. REPEAT
The Five S Plan: ***Once you’ve done it you shouldn't have to do it again.
S - Sort
S - Set in Place
S - Shine
S - Standardize
S - Sustain
Interest groups: testify and lobby to get what they want
Agencies: Seek political strategies, such as always asking for more money
The Chief executive: Designs budget to fit priorities
Types of Budgets:
a. Control through line item budgets
b. Budgeting for performance
i. Zero-based budgeting
c. Capital budgets
Revenue enhancement strategies Spending reductions
● Hike taxes or fees
● Borrow from employee pension funds
● Borrow from next years anticipated
revenues
● Assume extra new revenues from a
prosperous tax year
● Sell excess land, buildings, ot other
assets
● Aggressively collect delinquent tax
payments
● Postpone infrastructure and equipment
maintenance
● Exempt certain costs or projects from
the operating budget by creating an
“off-budget”
● Reduce spending across the board
● Reduce services
● Impose a hiring freeze, unpaid
furlough, or travel restrictions
● Refuse to transfer promised funds to
local governments
● Use volunteers to perform appropriate
jobs
● Reduce contributions to employee
health care or pensions
● Shift state expenditures to local
governments
● Privatize a public service
● The merit system
○ Neutral competence: primary criterion for obtaining government jobs
○ Merit system has had mixed results
● State and Local Advances
○ State and local personnel systems are improving
○ Making executive branch more efficient
■ Management
■ IT
● Property taxes
● Real estate
● City council
○ Using new methods
○ Merit system controversies
■ Representative bureaucracy
■ Sexual harassment
■ unions
Joining administration and politics
- Bureaucrats are involved in public policy
- Civil servants have considerable bureaucratic discretion
- Success of public policy depends on administrators
- Power is derived from knowledge, expertise, information, and discretionary authority
New public management (NPM): the argument that the government should manage for results,
through entrepreneurial activity, privatization, and improvements in efficiency and effectiveness.
Reids guide to building a budget:
- Really focus on what budgeting is. What type of community do you want? It's a strategy
document about how you materialize a vision.
- Gotta have money coming in and money going out. Revenue side and expenditure side
- Operating expenditure: how do we pay people - recurring
- Capital: construction/building…investment - nonrecurring
- Base budget of different departments budget requests.
- Police
- School
- Fire department
- Trash
- Add all that up. What does it equal? Compare that to how much money you have.
- What are the revenue streams and where are they going
- Real estate tax
- Personal property tax
- State sales tax
- TAXES
- Salaries
- Education
- Utilities
- Water
- Sewage
- Electric
Chapter 9: the judiciary: independence vs. accountability
State supreme courts are policy makers
- final authority on laws and constitution
- rule on the important questions
- rule on how the legislature is organized
- protect minority interests
- Senate…virginia plan
- Minority block
- Demographically and voting blocks
Judiciary handles three types of cases:
1. Civil cases
a. Traffic court
b. Land disputes
2. Criminal cases
a. Traffic violations
3. Administrative cases
a. Government agencies rules challenged
State courts interpret state statutes, state and federal constitutions, and common law.
The Two Tier Courts
1. Trail courts
a.
2. Appellate courts
How judges are elected
- Popular election
- Partisan popular election
- Non-partisan popular election
Chapter 10 local governments:
Orientations to communities
- Civic republic
- Representatives on city counsel
- Corporate enterprise
-
- Consumer market
There are communities that have essences of all three of these
Communities are based off of presuppositions
Article 3 powers of local governments - you are tried by a jury of peers
5 types of local governments
1. general-purpose: provide wide variety of services
a. Counties
b. Municipalities
c. Towns
These are separated by number of population.
2. Single-purpose
a. School district
b. Special district
County Government:
- Not all counties are alike
- The role of county government
- How counties are organized
- The performance
Municipal Government:
- Creating cities
- Incorporation: creation of a municipality through the granting of a charter
- Charte: a city's version of a constitution
- City government structure
- Mayor-council form
- Strong-mayor-council
- Weak-mayor-council
- Council-manager form
- City commission form
- Pressing issues for cities
- Planning and land use
- Annexation
- Finances
- Representation
- At-large elections
- Districts (ward) elections
- Reform movement
- Smart cities
Revenues:
Criteria for evaluating taxes
- Equity
- Taxes may be regressive, progressive, or proportional
Regressive Tax: a tax in which the rate falls as the base or taxable income rises.
Progressive tax (equity tax): a tax in which the rate rises as the base or taxable income rises
Proportional (flat) tax: a tax in which people pay an identical rate regardless of income or
economic transaction
- Yield: investment return…
- Political accountability
- Indexing: A system in which tax brackets are automatically adjusted to account
for inflation
- Acceptability
Major State and Local Taxes
Property Tax
- Difficult to administer
- Criticized for exempting some types of real estate and buildings
-Circuit Breakers: A limit on taxes applied to certain categories, such as the poor and
elderly
Sales Tax
- Major source of state revenue
- Favored by citizens
Income Tax
Miscellaneous Tax
- Sin Taxes (cigarettes, alcohol, and gas)
- Includes gas even though it is necessity for some
- Other sources of revenue: licenses, parking and traffic ticket fines, telecommunications
fees.
- Gambling: Lotteries and Casinos
- Generate small percentage (3 percent) of state income
- Internet sports gambling as
- Good on equity and elasticity
FINAL EXAM MATERIAL
CHAPTER 13: TAXES
Major State and local taxes:
Property tax
- Difficult to administer
- Who gets tax relief
- Criticized for exempting some types of real estate and buildings
- Circuit breakers: a limit on taxes applied to certain categories, such such as the poor and
elderly.
Sales Tax
- Major source of state revenue
- Favored by citizens
- Comes back to the citizens
Income tax
- Difference between personal and corporate
- strengths: yield and elasticity
Gambling: lotteries and casinos
- Generate small percentage (3%) of state income
- Internet sports gambling as new lucrative source of revenue
- Good on equity ad elasticity
- States with legal gambling
- New York
- Virgina
- Michigan
-
TAX Equity Yield Political
Accountability
Acceptability Efficiency
Property Fair Fair Poor Poor Poor
sales Poor Good Excellent Good Excellent
Personal and
corporate
income
Good Excellent Good Fair Good
User fees Fair Good Fair Good Excellent
Spending
-Tax-service paradox: situation in which people demand more government services but
do not want to pay for them through higher taxes
- Found a lot in cities
-Political economy: political choices that have economic outcomes
Tax Revolt
- Taxation and expenditure limitations (TELs): restrictions on state and/or local gov.
Taxing and spending
- Fiscal Stress: Financial pressure on a gov. From factors such as revenue shortfalls and
taxing and spending limitations
- Limited discretion: not a lot of accountability, why did we spend money here,
- Pensions and health care
- Pension: steady income after you retire
- Regular retirement account vs roth retirement account
Chapter 14:
Managing Money:
Estimating (projected) Revenues
Rainy Day Funds
***Long term borrowing - extremely controversial
- Debt and loans
- Fixed
- Variable
Industrial development bond (IDB): a bond issued to fund the construction of a facility to be
used by a private firm
- Limits on borrowing
- Qualified private activity bond
The unpleasant reality:
- State and local gov. Are experiencing significant long-term problems in political
economy
- recession / inflation
- Federal reserve …prices ex. Gas
- Labor market
Chapter 15:
Is there a crisis in education:
Standards
- De-emphasis on fundamentals
- Mandated courses on the increase
- Watered-down exist exams
Students
- Said to be poorly motivated and lazy
- Seek instant gratification
- Parents also blamed for not helping their children
Teachers
- Many not going into teaching profession
- Poor teacher training
- Many quit in the first five years
- Low wage occupation
The Education Bureaucracy
- Too many administrators
- Too much red tape, unnecessary rules; reduces effectiveness
