Texas in the Federal System

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Texas in the Federal System
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Cant We All Get Along?

• Texas has nearly 5,000 individual governments
• They include
• 254 counties
• 1,200 municipalities
• 3,366 school districts and other single-purpose
  districts
• Most Americans have been skeptical of centralized
  government (why not? look at the old Soviet
  Union)

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Systems of Government

• Unitary
• Ultimate power is vested in central government.
  Local or regional governments have only those
  powers created by the national government and
  serve to implement the policies set by the
  national government

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Systems of Government

• Confederation
• Each component government is sovereign in itself.
  Powers of the national government are limited to
  those approved by the member governments. This is
  the system that the original colonies used from
  the Declaration of Independence until the
  adoption of the Constitution in 1789, and that
  was used by the Confederacy during the Civil War.

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Systems of Government

• Federalism
• A balance exists in the power and sovereignty of
  the state and national governments. Both derive
  their authority directly from the people, with
  the states having considerable latitude and
  autonomy within their defined areas. In many
  ways, its a middle ground between a unitary and
  confederal system.

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Texas System

• Texas system is a unitary one, with the State
  Constitution and state laws giving cities,
  counties and special districts their powers.
• Texas system subscribes to the Dillon Rule,
  which holds that if a state can create a local
  government it can also choose to eliminate the
  local government.

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Federal-State Relationships

• The U.S. Constitution is vague on many areas of
  governmental responsibility, and there has been
  an on-going debate as to what powers should
  reside where.
• Currently, the area most talked about is
  devolution, or the return of power to the states.

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Federal-State Relationships

• Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution
  sets forth the enumerated, or express powers, of
  the federal government. These include the powers
  to
• Borrow and coin money
• Declare war
• Regulate interstate and foreign commerce

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Federal-State Relationships

• Framers were very concerned of political abuse
  and intended for the powers of the national
  government to be limited.
• Included was a catch-all provision, the implied
  powers clause, which gave the national government
  all powers to make necessary and proper laws
  for the proper execution of the enumerated powers.

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Federal-State Relationships

• Article VI contains the Supremacy Clause. When a
  conflict arises between state and federal law,
  the federal law prevails.
• The Tenth Amendment was passed to ease states
  concerns about the powers of the federal
  government. The reserved powers clause states
  that powers not delegated to the United States
  nor prohibited to the states are reserved to
  the states.

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Federal-State Relationships

• Most activity which affects our life takes place
  in state and local government. 95 of the
  litigation in our country takes place in state,
  not federal, courts.
• Police, regulatory and taxing powers are
  primarily state-driven.

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Federal-State Relationships

• The U.S. Constitution assures that Texas
• Has a republican form of government
• Is protected against invasion/domestic violence
• May maintain a militia
• Citizens will be tried here if accused of a
  federal crime
• Cannot be divided into another state
• Is assured 2 Senators and proportional
  Congressional representation

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Federal-State Relationships

• The U.S. Constitution also limited powers to the
  federal government. These denied powers appear
  throughout, especially in the Bill of Rights. The
  intent of the first ten amendments were to limit
  powers of the federal government.
• Since the Civil War federal courts have
  incorporated the Bill of Rights into the 14th
  Amendment and applied them to the states.

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State-State Relationships

• Each state has responsibilities to the others
  (horizontal federalism)
• Full faith and credit clause each state is
  obligated to recognize official government
  actions of the other states
• Privileges and immunities clause permits
  citizens traveling to another state to enjoy the
  rights of another state, e.g., acquiring
  property, establishing residency, access to legal
  systems

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State-State Relationships

• Persons accused of crime can be made to return to
  stand trial in another state through extradition
• Governors handle such requests, and duty is now
  mandatory
• Interstate compacts permit states to enter into
  long-term cooperative agreements
• Where a state must engage in litigation with
  another, the Supreme Court has original
  jurisdiction.

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Changing Patterns

• Grodzins argues that federalism is like a marble
  cake. When you cut into it, you see a mixture of
  colored ingredients rather than a neat horizontal
  layer cake.
• The coordination, collaboration and cooperation
  of different governmental entities is referred to
  as cooperative federalism.

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Dual Federalism

• Defined relationships from 1790s to 1930s
• Conflicts were usually resolved through court
  cases and statutory law
• McCulloch v. Maryland was the first notable
  instance where the Supreme Court defined the
  power of the U.S. government over the states

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Cooperative Federalism

• The New Deal expanded the role of federal
  government in relation to the states and local
  governments
• Commerce and supremacy clauses were used to
  support expanded federal role
• The federal government was primarily responsible
  for raising revenue and state and local
  governments responsible for administering the
  programs

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Cooperative Federalism

• Primary vehicle for funding has been the
  categorical grant-in-aid
• Money can be spent only for specific grant
  purpose and standards or requirements (such as no
  discrimination) are placed on recipients
• Project grant requires government to compete with
  other governments for funding

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Cooperative Federalism

• Formula grants are funds allocated to governments
  based on a prescribed formula and vary from
  program to program
• Many grants require matching funds, i.e., the
  grantees are required to pay a percentage of
  their own monies in order to qualify for the grant

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Centralized Federalism

• Great Society expanded feds role in domestic
  policy
• Grants grew from 132 to 379 between 1960 and 1968
• Most were intended to redistribute resources to
  lower-income groups
• Some scholars refer to the bypassing of state and
  local governments as coercive federalism

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Centralized Federalism

• New Federalism promoted by Nixon sought to
  reintegrate local participation
• Many grants were made as block grants, where
  states and local governments had discretion over
  how to spend the funds
• Revenue sharing replaced many categorical grants
• Despite intent to restrain federal involvement,
  expenditures and regulatory powers increased

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New Federalism

• Reagan administration significantly reduced the
  number of categorical grants through
  consolidation
• Welfare administration was returned to states
• Mandates and preemptions enacted by Congress
  worked against transfer of power to the states

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New Federalism

• More than one-half of preemption laws have been
  passed since 1970
• Costs of mandates have imposed significant
  restraints on state and local governments
• 65 of budget increase in 1990-91 budget was for
  increase in federal programs
• Motor-Voter bill of 1993 increased federal
  authority over state elections
• Since mid-90s, there has been an increase in
  devolution, or letting states decide more issues

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Role of the Supreme Court

• Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit
  Authority held that states cannot claim immunity
  from federal regulations over functions that have
  been defined as integral or traditional
  (Fair Labor Standards Act)
• U.S. v. Lopez held that Congress could not pass
  Gun-Free School Zones based on the Commerce Clause

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Role of the Supreme Court

• City of Boerne v. Flores showed that Supremes
  will place limits on Congressional powers
  (Religious Freedom Restoration Act)
• Court struck down some provisions of Brady
  Handgun Act in v. Printz v. U.S.
• No clear indication of trend

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State Financial Impact

• State receives 0.98 for each federal tax dollar
  paid
• Texas ranks near bottom of federal grants
• 33 of 2003-2004 budget was federal funds (79 of
  which were for social services)
• Many large cities have grant-writer positions
  while smaller cities have a harder time

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Reactions

• Some agencies refuse to take because of
  strings attached
• Road construction dollars are always a biggie
  (drinking age, 0.08 BAC, speed)
• Criticism that grants force states to rearrange
  priorities
• Some claim that fiscal federalism causes feds to
  assume too much responsibility for domestic
  programs

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Transnational Regionalism

• Maquiladoras
• Twin plant program plant is U.S. manufactures
  parts and ships to Mexican plant which assembles
• Originally only applied to border areas but now
  exists throughout Mexico and permits 100 Mexican
  ownership of plants
• Most U.S. companies have used existing plants

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NAFTA

• NAFTA was designed to reduce tariffs and increase
  trade between U.S., Mexico and Canada
• Texas has experience significant economic
  changes, but benefits have not been uniformly
  distributed
• Labor unions oppose because cheap labor moves
  more jobs to Mexico
• Traffic safety is a concern

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Challenges

• 5 of Texas employment is directly related to
  trade with Mexico
• Health care 1200 colonias exist with
  significant health problems
• Air/water pollution
• Illegal immigration
• 1986 reform act imposes fines on employers who
  hire illegal aliens
• Children of illegals pose financial burden