State and Local Governments

Compare and contrast US and state constitutions.

The US Consitution is a relativelty short, framework-oriented document that is hard to amend, vague, and promotes representative democracy and delegated powers. State consitutions tend to be longer with more specifics. They can also sometimes be directly amended by the people and are therefore much easier to amend. They have plenary, or full, powers and require a balanced budget while the feds can run up as much debt as they please.

How does the federal government support state and local budgets?

The government usually transfers money with a mandate. For example, they may give a state a sum of money and require it to be spent on education. Medicaid is the most supported program. The state disperses money to local governments. It is important to remember that states are run on a unitary system, while the US government works on a federal system.

centralized federalism

broad commerce authority, Medicaid, highway system, seat belt and helmet laws

Dual federalism

clearly divided between states and feds, 1789-1933, McCulloch v. Maryland-fed, Gibbons v. Ogden-fed, Hammer v. Dagenhart-state

Ad Hoc

current system where federalism is assessed on a case-to-case basis

Explain how state constitutions have changed, colonial time to the present.

from charters to constitutions, added bills of rights, started with powerful bicameral legislatures, few voting rights, eventually had elected governors and expanded suffrage, some only by force i.e. South

What are some other revenue sources?

miscellaneous taxes, user fees charged for government services, insurance trust funds that go into the welfare system, and intergovernmental transfers from the feds or the state

What are the different types of power granted by the U.S. Constitution?

mostly pay attention to Figure 2-2, with national powers, state powers, and concurrent powers. Both states and the national government also have restrictions on their powers. Finally, the national government has enumerated (or "expressed" powers), as well as implied powers, and the states have reserved powers.

What factors explain variance?

political culture-individualistic, moralistic, traditionalistic, sociodemographic, geography, topography, economy

New Federalism

state-centered federalism under Nixon and Reagan

Distinguish between vertical and horizontal federalism

vertical-relationship of feds to states, horizontal-between states or other equal bodies

What are the differences between progressive and regressive tax systems?

A progressive tax takes more money from individuals who have more. Many income taxes are arranged in this manner. with the wealthy paying a higher percentage than the poor. A regressive tax taxes lower income people at a higher tax rate than those with higher incomes. Sales taxes are an example of a regressive tax, because a 7% tax on the price of my sushi hurts me more than it hurts Bill Gates.

What taxes are most politically attractive?

Different taxes can be attractive for different reasons. Sales taxes are less visible than most other taxes, making them attractive to legislators who want to avoid backlash. The problem is that online shopping and the move to a more service-based economy are threatening the actual revenue-drawing ability of these taxes. Property taxes are attractive because they are a steady source of income, but they are very visible and benefit families more than singles and the elderly. Which taxes states choose to emphasize also depends on their political culture, geology, geography, available resources, and economic success or lackthereof.

Explain the advantages and disadvantages of federalism

Note that some of the advantages are also disadvantages. And we can link this diversity back to political culture: federalism allows 'unity without uniformity (see first and third advantages on Table 2-1 -- 'allows for flexibility' / 'allows for experimentation' . But that also 'makes coordination difficult' and 'increases complexity.'

Why are property taxes so important to communities?

Property taxes are the primary revenue source for most municipalities. With this revenue, they pay for schools and services that the townspeople want.

Which tax is more important to state governments? Local?

State: Sales, Local: Property

Are states' revenue and spending programs sustainable?

States are lagging far behind the times. The revenue systems of most states will have to undergo major changes. States like Tennessee that rely on sales taxes are particularly in trouble. Sales taxes have failed to evolve to account for a service-based, online economy.

Identify major variations in state constitutions, and explain why they differ.

States have different histories and political cultures and this creates great variance in their constitutions. Southern states tend to have long constitutions that have been replaced and/or revised often because of circumstances surrounding the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the civil rights movement. New England states have short. framework-oriented constitutions due mainly to their small size and the homogeneity of their population. A main distinguishing factor of Midwestern constitutions is that they tend to favor direct democracy, due to the influence of progressive politicians like Robert La Follette of Wisconsin.

Using the experience of 1996 welfare reform, predict what would be likely to happen to state budgets, and recipients, if Medicaid is "block-granted."

For starters, we need to see know about the change from AFDC to TAN-F as the major cash assistance welfare program; see Smith and Greenblatt, pp 106-108 . The Republican Congress changed AFDC welfare from an entitlement to TAN-F block grant. This parallels todays move by a Republican congress to propose block granting Medicaid: Republicans consistently speak of lower spending on social programs, more state control of social programs, and more individual responsibility. We also need to keep in mind that the Affordable Care Act expanded Medicaid -- not uniformly, since the Supreme Court struck down the portion of the ACA that told states to expand medicaid (and get additional funds in a 90-10- match) OR forego all medicaid funds. In NFIB v. Sebelius the Court said this violated the principle of federalism (essentially the feds were acting as a unitary government, allowing the states no meaningful choice). So if Medicaid is block granted, based on the creation of TAN-F we would expect state authority to increase; we would expect federal funding to be capped (TAN-F money is the same $16.5 billion is was in 1996, but worth about 34% less given inflation). The winner would be the federal budget, the costs would be borne either by states spending more of their own money, or by covering fewer people.

Explain the formal and informal processes of change.

Formal changes can be made through constitutional conventions, ballot referendums, and legislative proposals. Informally, many parts of state constitutions are read differently or simply not enforced anymore.

cooperative federalism

Great Depression leads to great expansion of federal power, marble cake, US v. Darby Lumber, Wickard v. Filburn, Wickard v. US

Explain what taxes generate revenues to the states

Most states get the most revenue from sales taxes because these taxes go exclusively to states. Property taxes generate a nice, predictable revenue stream that states rely on to keep their budgets steady. Income taxes vary in importance. They generate a lot of revenue for some states but some states don't even have them. Other taxes include gift taxes on money transfers, estate taxes on post-mortem estates, and severance taxes. Severance taxes are charged on natural resources like coal and oil. They are largely irrelevant in most states but states like Alaska and Wyoming rely heavily on them.

Pros and cons of direct democracy

The obvious pros, what the Progressives wanted, the people have a say. The negatives: "good government" types think that the people are too easily swayed (there was a discussion of James Madison's mistrust of the people, vs. Robert LaFollette's progressivism back in chapter 2). there end up being a couple main critiques: one is the limitations we put on spending of government -- such as Missouri's Hancock amendment, adopted in 1980, that limits the total of our tax burden (ch4) without a vote of the people. The second is that this allows special interests to try to place something into the constitution. An example used in Friday's class was Missouri Bill of Rights Amendment 34, the Freedom to Farm, which was reportedly bankrolled by Monsanto and Cargill.

Why does the United States have a federal system of government?

The short answer is, federalism was an invention in 1787, trying to avoid the weaknesses of a confederal system, without reverting to a unitary system that we knew under colonial status.

Discuss why taxing varies between state and local governments

These governments have different priorities. For example, local governments have much more specific demographics to attend to and therefore must pay more attention.

Fit NFIB v. Sebelius into federalism battles.

This case is an example of ad hoc federalism. The liberal justices wanted an expansion of federal power so they decided to read the Consitution that way.

Which clauses in the U.S. Constitution discuss the powers of the states and which ones discuss the powers of the federal government?

This is well-summarized in Table 2-2. Key National Powers are: the Commerce Power (enumerated); the Necessary and Proper Clause (implied), the Supremacy Clause, and then the power to raise an income tax (Am. 16). Key state provisions are the 10th Amendment (reserved). We want to be able to know specific constitutional clauses and their names, and how they have affected "state centered" federalism or "nation centered" federalism