State and Local Government: Powers, Structures, and Finance

Posted on May 1, 2025 in Law

Legal and Judicial Concepts

  • Common Law: Unwritten law based on tradition, custom, or court decisions.
  • Successful plea bargaining results in the defendant pleading guilty in exchange for a reduced sentence or pleading guilty to a lesser charge.
  • In a criminal case, the state acts as the plaintiff.
  • Limited Jurisdiction Trial Courts: Courts of original jurisdiction for specific types of cases.
  • Major Trial Courts (or Courts of General Jurisdiction): Hear both civil and criminal cases.
  • Intermediate Appellate Court: Claims are limited to $1,000. (Note: This specific limit may vary significantly by jurisdiction).

State Executive Branch and Governor Powers

  • Historically, governors possessed less power than they do today.
  • An elected official who cannot serve beyond the current term of office is known as a lame duck.
  • Line-Item Veto: Vetoing separate items within a bill rather than the entire bill.
  • Package Veto: Vetoing the entire bill.
  • Executive Amendment: A veto that rejects a bill but suggests changes.
  • A governor with a four-year term in office is generally considered more powerful than one with a shorter term.
  • The formal powers of a governor are typically found in the state constitution.
  • Formal powers of the governor include:
    • Tenure potential
    • Appointment power
    • Veto power
    • Budgetary power
    • Reorganization power
    • Staffing power
  • Gubernatorial powers not derived from constitutional or statutory law are known as the governor’s informal powers.
  • To change executive branch operations or activities, the governor issues an executive order.
  • Plural Executive: A system in which more than one member of the executive branch is popularly elected on a statewide ballot.
  • Excluding the governor, the four most common key statewide executive branch offices are often the:
    • Treasurer
    • Lieutenant Governor
    • Attorney General
    • Secretary of State
  • One function of the Secretary of State is to determine the ballot eligibility of political parties and candidates.

Local Government Structures and Processes

  • A metropolitan statistical area (MSA) typically requires a core urban area with a population of 50,000 or more.
  • A micropolitan statistical area is defined as an urban cluster with a population between 10,000 and 49,999.
  • Grants of home rule for local governments typically come from state governments.
  • General-Purpose Local Government: A local government that provides a wide range of functions.
  • Single-Purpose Local Government: A local government, such as a school district, that performs a specific function (e.g., school districts).
  • Strong-Mayor-Council System: The mayor is empowered to perform the executive functions of government and has veto power over city council actions.
  • Weak-Mayor-Council System: The mayor has limited formal executive powers; the city council is the primary source of executive and legislative power.
  • Mayor-Council Government: A common form of city government (can be strong-mayor or weak-mayor).
  • Council-Manager Government: The city council hires a professional manager (an expert) to run the daily operations of the government.
  • Commission Government: Combines legislative and executive functions in a single elected commission.
  • District elections are often considered to favor minority representation compared to at-large elections.
  • The addition of unincorporated adjacent territory to a municipality is known as annexation.
  • Incorporation in local government refers to the legal process of creating a new municipal entity, often involving the adoption of a charter.
  • An ordinance is the local government equivalent of a state or federal statute.
  • A charter is a document that sets out a city’s structure, authority, and functions, similar to a constitution.
  • Direct democracy, particularly through town meetings, is still practiced in some New England towns.

Public Finance and Social Programs

  • Medicaid was enacted in 1965.
  • Historically, school districts have heavily relied on local property taxes for funding.
  • Equalization formulas are often used in state funding for school districts to address disparities in local property tax revenue.
  • The payment of a noncash social welfare benefit, such as food stamps or clothing, to an individual recipient is known as an in-kind program.
  • Sales tax often has a higher yield (generates more revenue) compared to some other taxes, but this can vary.
  • A revenue bond typically has a higher interest rate than a general obligation bond because its repayment is tied to the revenue of a specific project.
  • Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a direct cash transfer program funded by the federal government.
  • AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) was a federal assistance program replaced by TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) in 1996.
  • The tax-service paradox describes the situation where people demand more government services but are unwilling to pay for them through higher taxes.
  • Tax effort refers to the extent to which a jurisdiction utilizes its available taxable resources.
  • A proportional tax (or flat tax) is a tax in which people pay the same rate regardless of their income or the value of the economic transaction.