State & Local Government & Politics, Section 3

Front 1

Dillon's Rule

Back 1

Concept about the nature of local government powers (or "municipal corporations") from John F. Dillon, scholar and judge, circa 1872.
Whereas states may be seen as having powers beyond those listed in the US Constitution, local governments have only those powers explicitly granted to them by a state.
Cities, counties, school districts, and "special districts" are thus legal entities created by their states.

Front 2

Special Districts

Back 2

Local governments that are established (under state laws) for limited purposes, such as providing a single public service.

Front 3

Political Machines

Back 3

A party organization, headed by a single boss or small autocratic group, that commands enough votes to maintain political and administrative control of a city, county, or state.

Front 4

Civil Service Merit System

Back 4

Civil service are appointed administrators and public employees.
The merit system is the process of promoting and hiring government employees based on their ability to perform a job, rather than on their political connections. It is the opposite of the spoils system.

Front 5

Corrupt Practices Act

Back 5

?
In 1977, Congress enacted the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). This legislation was designed to prevent American corporations from making questionable payments to foreign government officials in order to contract business in those countries. The FCPA made it illegal for U.S. corporate leaders to facilitate these acts of bribery and also prescribed specific accounting and record keeping practices to ensure any foreign payments could be tracked and verified.

Front 6

Public Contracting

Back 6

?

Front 7

Mayor-Council System

Back 7

The mayor–council government system is one of the two most common forms of local government in the United States. It is the one most frequently adopted in large cities, although the other form, council–manager government, is the typical local government form of more municipalities.

Characterized by having a mayor who is elected by the voters, the mayor–council variant may be broken down into two main variations depending on the relationship between the legislative and executive branches, becoming a weak-mayor or a strong-mayor variation based upon the powers of the office.

Front 8

City Manager

Back 8

A city manager is an official appointed as the administrative manager of a city, in a council-manager form of city government. Local officials serving in this position are sometimes referred to as the chief executive officer (CEO) or chief administrative officer (CAO) in some municipalities.[1] However, in a technical sense, the term "city manager," as opposed to CAO, implies more discretion and independent authority that is set forth in a charter or some other body of codified law, as opposed to duties being assigned on a varying basis by a single superior such as a mayor.

Front 9

Patronage

Back 9

Favors and benefits that elected officials provide their supporters. Nineteenth-century party machines used city jobs as one source of patronage to reward loyal supporters.

Front 10

Land Use Policy

Back 10

Land-use planning is the term used for a branch of public policy encompassing various disciplines which seek to order and regulate land use in an efficient and ethical way, thus preventing land-use conflicts. Governments use land-use planning to manage the development of land within their jurisdictions. In doing so, the governmental unit can plan for the needs of the community while safeguarding natural resources. To this end, it is the systematic assessment of land and water potential, alternatives for land use, and economic and social conditions in order to select and adopt the best land-use options.[1] Often one element of a comprehensive plan, a land-use plan provides a vision for the future possibilities of development in neighborhoods, districts, cities, or any defined planning area.

Front 11

Zoning

Back 11

The power of local governments to regulate land use. A zoning map divides a community into areas where specific types of land use are allowed (for example, residential, commercial, industrial, or agricultural). Zoning ordinances provide detailed standards for allowable building designs, lot sizes, building heights, landscaping requirements, and yard size, and how far buildings must be set back from the road.

Front 12

Metropolitan Fragmentation

Back 12

?

Front 13

Revenue Sharing

Back 13

REVENUE SHARING occurs when a government shares part of its tax income with other governments. State governments, for example, may share revenue with local governments, while national governments can share revenue with state governments. The amount of revenue shared is determined by law. Generally, the governments that receive the monies are free from any stipulations about or controls on how to use them. In some cases, however, the receiving government may be required to match the amount granted.

Front 14

Urban Growth Areas

Back 14

Areas adjacent to existing development that is slated for future growth. Some state land use plans attempt to increase housing density within designated urban growth area boundaries before allowing development in outlying areas.

Front 15

Local Economic Development

Back 15

ocal Economic Development (LED) is an approach to economic development, particularly in the developing world that, as its name implies, places importance on activities in and by cities, districts and regions. This involves added micro-economic measures at the local level to complement macro-economic measures at the national level.

Front 16

Urban Sprawl

Back 16

Urban sprawl is the spreading of a city or its suburbs.

Front 17

Intermunicipal Inequality

Back 17

Differences between communities in the social status and wealth of community residents.

Front 18

Eminent Domain

Back 18

The power of the state and local governments to appropriate private property, typically for a public purpose. Some states also delegate this power to private entities, such as utility companies.

Front 19

Kelo vs. New London

Back 19

Kelo v. City of New London (2005) was a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States involving the use of eminent domain to transfer land from one private owner to another private owner to further economic development. In a 5–4 decision, the Court held that the general benefits a community enjoyed from economic growth qualified private redevelopment plans as a permissible "public use" under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

The case arose in the context of condemnation by the city of New London, Connecticut, of privately owned real property, so that it could be used as part of a “comprehensive redevelopment plan.” However, the private developer was unable to obtain financing and abandoned the redevelopment project, leaving the land as an empty lot, which was eventually turned into a temporary dump.

Front 20

Bleeding Kansas

Back 20

At the heart of the conflict was the question of whether Kansas would allow or outlaw slavery, and thus enter the Union as a slave state or a free state. Proslavery forces said every settler had the right to bring his own property, including slaves, into the territory. Antislavery "free soil" forces said the rich slaveowners would buy up all the good farmland and work them with black slaves, leaving little or no opportunity for non-slaveowners. As such, Bleeding Kansas was a proxy war between antislavery forces in the North and proslavery forces from the South over the issue of slavery in the United States. The term "Bleeding Kansas" was coined by Republican Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune; its violence indicated that compromise was unlikely and thus it presaged the Civil War.

Front 21

Culture War

Back 21

A culture war is a struggle between two sets of conflicting cultural values.

Front 22

Policy Shock

Back 22

An event that changes an issue's political environment, disrupts the policy equilibrium, and starts active policy making

Front 23

Policy Entrepreneur

Back 23

A person who identifies a public need and works to motivate citizens and policy makers to change policy to satisfy that need

Front 24

Issue Evolution

Back 24

The process by which the definition and politics of a public policy issue change over time

Front 25

Feminization of Poverty

Back 25

The gap between women and men who are caught in the cycle of poverty, which is caused by occupational segregation, poor wages and lower pay than men, bearing the bulk of child care costs, and other structural conditions.

Front 26

Devolution

Back 26

The decentralization of power and authority from a central government to state or local governments.

Front 27

Social Insurance

Back 27

Rather than means-tested, a government-created program (such as social security) that socializes risk by forcing the compulsory contributions of participants.

Front 28

Entitlement Program

Back 28

A government program guaranteeing a level of benefits to participating individuals or entities.

Front 29

Public Assistance

Back 29

A means-tested program that provides aid-both cash and in-kind services- to the poor

Front 30

Means-Tested Program

Back 30

The provision of need based public assistance and financial aid by government that is available only to individuals falling below a predetermined level of income or assets

Front 31

AFDC

Back 31

AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) is a program administered and funded by Federal and State governments to provide financial assistance to needy families. In an average State, more than half (55 percent) of the total cost of AFDC payments are funded by the Federal government. The States provide the balance of these payments, manage the program, and determine who receives benefits and how much they get.

Front 32

TANF

Back 32

TANF stands for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. It is a federally funded grant program that allows states to create and administer their own assistance programs. TANF replaces the federal programs previously known as "welfare," and enables states to offer a wide variety of social services.

Front 33

Race to the Bottom

Back 33

The race to the bottom is a socio-economic phenomenon in which governments deregulate the business environment or taxes in order to attract or retain economic activity in their jurisdictions, resulting in lower wages, worse working conditions and fewer environmental protections. An outcome of globalization and free trade, the phenomenon may occur when competition increases between geographic areas over a particular sector of trade and production.

Front 34

Policy Diffusion

Back 34

The transfer or emulation of an idea, institution, or policy of one political jurisdiction by another.

Front 35

Social Secuirty

Back 35

Technically known as the Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance program (OASDI), a federal social insurance program created in 1935 providing economic assistance mainly to retired workers and their families.

Front 36

Unemployment insurance

Back 36

Unemployment benefits (also, depending on the jurisdiction, called unemployment insurance, unemployment compensation or the dole) are social welfare payments made by the state or other authorised bodies to unemployed people. Benefits may be based on a compulsory para-governmental insurance system. Depending on the jurisdiction and the status of the person, those sums may be small, covering only basic needs, or may compensate the lost time proportionally to the previous earned salary.

Unemployment benefits are generally given only to those registering as unemployed, and often on conditions ensuring that they seek work and do not currently have a job.

Front 37

SSDI

Back 37

Although many people use the terms Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) interchangeably, the two are actually different federal programs. SSDI is an insurance program funded by an individual’s payroll taxes. The SSI, on the other hand, is a need-based income supplement program funded by general tax revenues. However, both programs are managed by the Social Security Administration (SSA), and for both the SSDI and the SSI programs, a worker must be determined to be physically or mentally disabled and unable to work for at least one year.

Front 38

Welfare

Back 38

A range of public assistance services provided by government to aid and protect the most vulnerable individuals in society; includes both social insurance and public assistance programs.

Front 39

Single-Payer System

Back 39

A health system financed by one source - usually the federal government- in which doctors and other private health care professionals provide basic services to every person, with their fees paid by the government at a fixed rate.

Front 40

Medicaid

Back 40

created by congress in 1965, a joint federal and state financed public assistance program administered by the states that provides payments directly to health care providers for medical services rendered to means-tested low-income individuals and family

Front 41

Medicare

Back 41

Care for the elderly
congress in 1965
65+
or people of all ages with disabilities

Front 42

Medicare Trust Fund

Back 42

Medicare Trust Funds
The payments for medical services covered under Medicare come from two trust funds. The Hospital Insurance trust fund covers Medicare Part A payments to hospitals and the Supplementary Medical Insurance trust fund pays the doctor and out patient medical expenses covered under Part B of Medicare. The trust funds take in the money designated to pay for the services covered under Medicare and make the payments to the health care providers when claims are submitted.

Trust Fund Funding
The Hospital Insurance trust fund is financed from the Medicare payroll taxes paid by employees and employers. As of 2010, the HI tax rate was 1.45 percent of salary for employees and employers or 2.90 percent for the self-employed. The Supplementary Medical Insurance trust fund is funded by the Part B Medicare premium paid by retirees and money from general government revenues.

Front 43

Common Schools

Back 43

The common school era is viewed by many education scholars to have ended around 1900. In the early twentieth century, schools generally became more regional (as opposed to local), and control of schools moved away from elected school boards, and towards professional control. Because common schools were not special-purpose districts, voters often decided in called elections to join independent or unified school districts.

Front 44

Achievement gap

Back 44

The gulf in performance and educational attainment between rich and poor and white and minority students.

Front 45

School District Autonomy

Back 45

Area of control granted a school district or its officials through expressed or implied state authority

Front 46

Educational Management Organizations (EMOs)

Back 46

For-profit companies hired to run some public schools.

Front 47

Charter Schools

Back 47

A public school that is operated by a school district, but is freed from the administrative, staffing and pedagogical constraints of traditional public schools and usually has a narrow mission.

Front 48

No Child Left Behind (NCLB)

Back 48

Signed into law by President George W. Bush in Jan 2002, the bipartisan act greatly expanded the role of the federal government in K-12 public education. The law requires annual assessments of student performance, requiring that children and schools attain adequate yearly progress (AYP).