Relationship Between State and Local Government Essay

In the United States of America, there are two forms of government that most cities adhere to, Mayor-Council and Council-Manager. However, there is a third form of government that a smaller few adhere to call the commission. Moreover, approximately 59% of the cities in the United States utilize the Council-Manager form of government; conversely 33% utilize the Mayor-Council form of government, which means the remaining 8% more than likely utilize the commission form of government.

They share the same principles with each other. State and local governments can’t create or enforce laws that contradict the Constitution. The Constitution requires “equal protection under the law” for the state and local governments. However, the state and local governments have their differences too. The state has more laws and “ground” to cover than the local governments do. “Each state has its own written constitution, and these documents are often far more elaborate than their federal counterpart. The Alabama Constitution, for example, contains 310,296 words — more than 40 times as many as the U.S. Constitution” (The White House). The local government just deals with the county and their jurisdiction in that state. The state government is more superior over the local government. “A local government must be granted power by the state” (The White House). When it comes to the state and local governments, the state has more power than the local government

The legislation of the state of Arizona is bicameral, with a Senate and a House of Representatives. Each Senator and Representative is elected for a two year term. There is a limitation of four consecutive terms. After serving four terms, they must be out of office for one term before they can be reelected to that office. There are certain qualifications to become a legislator. Those seeking office in the state Senate or House of Representatives must be at least 25 years of age, be a United States citizen, reside in the state for three years prior, and live in the county for one year prior to election. The job of a legislator in Arizona is part time, due to the limited time of the regular session. Their salaries, currently at

Freedom of municipal law, when pertaining to the state government, has its pros and cons. One pro is the lack of necessary for the state to review every policy that the city makes. Another is that the cities could work on ways to solve their own problems and allow more of the community’s voices to be heard. A corresponding con is the lack of connection between the cities and states that could further lead to a misuse of power. Also, if the cities feel that there is little to no authority acting over them, they could become power hungry and try to push policies that their communities disagree with.

It is the state that can decide the amount and type of authority a local government could have to operate effectively and efficiently. The state government holds all legal powers, and the amount and type of authority are varied. Some states give their localities the power to restrain themselves, but other more conservative states force them to wait for the legislators to approve so they

Reduction of Service Considerations: Under a consolidated government, there could be a reduction in service for city residents.

The federal government and state governments have had a long history of powers struggles. The struggle goes back and forth between who has the right to make decisions and if there is a problem who should fix it. Sometimes it is better for the federal government to fix issues and during other situations it is better for the state or local governments to fix other issues. In the PBS special of the United States Constitution, Peter Sagal travels around the states documenting the various roles and impact the government has on the country as a whole and on the individual states.

The Local and state officials? The inability to enforce laws from the federal level uniformly throughout counties

Texas is the second most populous state as well as the second largest state in the United States of America (Brown, Langenegger, Garcia, Lewis, & Biles, 2014). With a huge number of people currently calling Texas their home, it would make sense to draw the conclusion that the Texas government must make this state a great place to live by serving its citizens to the best of its abilities. However, it is best not to make assumptions and in order to ascertain whether the local government actually fulfills this role we must look at multiple aspects of the government.

There are many different forms of local government, such as county councils, the metropolitan councils, and parish and district councils. Many of the roles and responsibilities they preform and deal with sometimes overlap, but they all mainly focus on the services and facilities needed in local areas across the country

For example, Matt Rinaldi from the TribTalk writes an article saying that, “Local governments are far superior to state governments in their ability to communicate with and respond to issues raised by local constituents in areas.” This shows that local cities are normally controlled by local governments that take part in state government, since it is broken down. The government for Texas will need the help of local governments to find out how to find ways to at least have some control towards the cities, including having a limit to how much money is

The national and state level governments do have their similarities but they have equally as many or even more differences. Some of the powers that are exclusive to the national government are being able to declare war, establish post offices, and print money. On the other hand, the state government is able to issue licenses, regulate intrastate, and look after public health and safety. As for the tribal government, it is different because of tribal enrollment. This is necessary because it, “…results from the preparation of a tribal roll subject to Secretarial approval or an appeal to the Secretary is provided for in the tribal governing document” (Division of Tribal Government Services Mission). One of the main ways that local governments are able to distinct itself is that they deal on a lower scale of duties that only impact the people who live in the general area or city. Some of these tasks can include, “…take responsibility for parks and recreation services, police and fire departments, housing services, emergency medical services, municipal courts, transportation services…” (State and Local Government). This is in order to make sure that everything inside the city flows smoothly and it is only to pertain to a limited amount of people. One of the more obvious differences overall besides the powers that each government is entitled to is that the national and state governments have a large jurisdiction while the local and tribal governments have a smaller

The services they provide the community and the responsibilities they acquire differs in various ways . For instance the services that a community requires differs from each city, town or region causing different responsibilities amongst the government. Also, a municipal government is only the elected representative and the municipality administration. Whereas, a local government includes all sorts of other things because a municipality gives authority to the other organizations to do things. Thus, a local government is a municipal government in addition to agencies, boards and other corporations. Therefore, it is important to acknowledge the differences between them as they are different in various aspects and have different responsibilities and provide various

County governments are divided into several different departments. These include county clerk, auditor's office, building departments, health departments, voter registration, treasurer’s office, and

County governments are considered local governments within the state. The board of commissioners is the head of a county. Each commissioner is elected by the town and is permitted for four years of service. So, why are county governments so important to me? County governments do so much for us every day; For example, they provide jobs, oversee health care services, and maintain roads.