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OConnor

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Title: OConnor


1
OConnor Sabato, Chapter 3
  • Presentation 3.3 Modern Federalism

2
Key Topics
  • Modern Federalism (1933-1954)
  • Creative Federalism (1954-1979)
  • New Federalism the Devolution Revolution
    (1980-??)
  • Policy in Action Setting a National Alcohol
    Policy
  • Federalism and the Supreme Court

3
Modern Federalism
  • From layer-cake to marble-cake federalism
  • Federal government increasingly participates in
    activities traditionally viewed as state/local
    matters
  • Fed. govt. reliance on incentives to influence
    state/local govts.

4
1a) The Rise of Federal Grant Programs
  • Programs where the federal govt. redistributed
    money to the states for specific purposes
  • Morrill Land Grant Act (1862)
  • Gave each state 30,000 acres of public land per
    congressional representative
  • Income from sale of land designated for the
    creation of agricultural mechanical arts
    colleges

5
1b) The New Deal
  • Accelerated the redistribution of federal funds
    to the states
  • Money (with strings attached)
  • National govt. imposed goals attached
    conditions
  • By 1945, federal grant programs were a central
    part of national policy
  • The relationship was largely cooperative until
    the early 1960s

6
1c) Categorical Grants
  • Congress appropriates federal tax dollars for a
    specific purpose
  • Allocate funds based on a precise formula
    impose detailed conditions for state eligibility
  • Federal govt. often matches contributions of
    states for specific purposes (e.g. highway
    construction)

7
2) Creative Federalism
  • The rise of civil rights as a major national
    issue
  • Trumans Fair Deal platform in 1948
  • States were often blamed for preserving systems
    of discrimination (e.g. Jim Crow laws in the Deep
    South)
  • Federalism was viewed as an avenue to compel the
    states to mend their ways

8
2a) The Carrot and Stick Nature of Creative
Federalism
  • The carrot federal funds for state programs
  • The stick withholding funds to those states who
    do not follow national policy
  • Significant portions of the revenues for most
    state budgets come from the federal govt.

9
2b) Johnsons Great Society Program (1964-1968)
  • War on Poverty was the central program
  • Designed to combat discrimination poverty
  • Brought the federal govt. into conflict w/ state
    local govt.

Lyndon Johnson (1908-1973). Picture courtesy
Encarta
10
2bi) Great Society cont.
  • Johnsons programs often were designed to bypass
    conservative state/local govt. that were often
    the source of discrimination
  • Provoked a great deal of anger at Washington,
    D.C. programs
  • Led to further shifting of power to the federal
    govt.
  • Led to the regulatory era of the 1970s

11
2c) Revenue Sharing
  • Originally a Democratic idea
  • Designed to channel federal money to states with
    no strings attached
  • Popular with the states but unpopular with natl.
    politicians

Richard Nixon (1913-1997). Picture courtesy
Encarta
12
2d) Fruitcake Federalism
  • Between 1965-1980, federal aid to cities and
    state tripled
  • Abandonment of the notion of zones of
    sovereignty
  • Resources distributed to all concerned without
    concern for efficiency or for the rising national
    debt
  • Negative reactions quickly followed

13
3) New Federalism the Devolution Revolution
  • Presidents between 1970-1980 opposed big
    government but did not reduce spending
  • Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980 promising to
    curb social spending
  • Clothed his program in states-rights rhetoric

14
3a) Government is not the Solution
  • For the 1st time in 30 yrs, federal aid to
    state/local govt. declined
  • Reagan argued for replacing categorical grants
    with block grant programs
  • Grants for broad activities w/ few strings
    attached

Ronald Reagan (1911-?). Picture courtesy Encarta
15
3ai) The Byproducts of the Reagan Revolution
  • Fewer available funds sharpened competition among
    state/local govt.
  • Recession in the 1990s created budget shortfalls
    for many states
  • Governors forced to raise taxes cut social
    services and became very unpopular

16
3aii) The Rise of Intergovernmental Lobbies
  • Competition for federal aid caused state/local
    govt. to lobby Washington for funds
  • Hire professional lobbyists to advocate for
    federal support
  • Some lobbies also litigate to insure state/local
    interests are represented in the courts

17
3aiii) The Big SevenPremier Intergovernmental
Lobbies
18
3b) The Devolution Revolution
  • Federalist 17 Hamilton believed it will always
    be far more easy for the State govt. to encroach
    upon the national authorities than for the
    national govt. to encroach upon the State
    authorities
  • How wrong he proved!
  • By the early 1990s, many state governors
    rebelled at the growing influence of the federal
    govt.
  • Especially preemption unfunded mandates

19
3bi) Preemption
  • Congressional acts that override state/local
    actions in certain areas
  • Basically undermines the 10th Amendment (reserved
    powers clause)
  • Often impose significant cost on state/local
    govt.
  • Relates especially to environmental
    anti-discriminatory laws

20
3bii) Unfunded Mandates
  • Laws that direct state/local govt. to comply with
    federal rules or regulations
  • Carry the threat of civil or criminal penalties
  • Unfunded mandates require state/local govt. to
    absorb the cost of following federal guidelines

21
3biii) Unfunded Mandates cont.
  • Meeting unfunded mandates often account for as
    much as 30 of a local govt. operating budget
  • Example of Columbus, OH (pop. slightly larger
    than Tulsa, OK)
  • Unfunded provisions attached to existing
    grant-in-aid programs
  • Faced a 1 billion bill to comply with the
    federal Clean Water Act the Safe Drinking Water
    Act
  • Estimated cost of 685 per household

22
3biv) The Growth of Regulatory Federalism
23
3bv) The Problem with Unfunded Mandates
  • Most states have constitutional provisions that
    require balanced budgets
  • Mandates means higher taxes which makes
    state/local legislatures very unpopular

24
3bvi) Good Times, Bad Times
  • The Clinton years were good for state govt.
  • Total state budget surpluses in 1998 exceeded 30
    billion
  • Some state increased social spending
  • Some cut taxes
  • By 2001, stock market declines, economic
    recession, increasing health care costs hurt
    the states badly
  • CA facing a 30 billion deficit

25
3c) The Contract with America
  • Republicans campaigned in the midterm elections
    of 1994 promising to return money, power, and
    responsibility to the state
  • A crucial element of the Contract was a promise
    to end unfunded mandates

John Kasich (1952-??) Ohio Republican and
co-architect of the Contract w/ America Picture
courtesy New Century Project.
26
3ci) The Gingrich Revolution
  • GA Republican who orchestrated the GOP takeover
    of Congress in 1994
  • Promised a continuation of the Reagan Revolution
    by cutting social welfare spending
  • Speaker of the House 1994-1998

Newt Gingrich, former Speaker principal
architect of the Contract with America. Picture
courtesy Newt.org.
27
4) Policy in ActionSetting a National Alcohol
Policy
  • The sharp decline of fatal crashes involving
    drivers aged 18-21. Why?
  • The effectiveness of grass roots lobbying by MADD
    related groups

Wendy Hamilton, current Pres. of MADD. Picture
courtesy MADD website
28
4a) Policy in Action cont.
  • MADD lobbied Congress to amend the Surface
    Transportation Act (1982) to impose a national
    drinking age (21)
  • Congress passed the provision using the
    carrot-and-stick nature of federalism
  • Made states conform to anational ideal in order
    to receive federal funds
  • Now MADD is lobbying for Congress to impose
    national standards for drunkenness (.08)

29
5) Federalism and the Supreme Court
  • The Supreme Court is the ultimate arbiter of the
    meaning of the Constitution
  • Therefore, the SC decides on the nature of
    federalism
  • The Courts interpretation of federalism kept the
    national govt. out of state politics until well
    into the 20th century

30
5a) Federalism the Supreme Court
  • From the New Deal forward, the Court has
    increasingly accepted the national govt. playing
    a role in encouraging state/local govt. to act
    in certain areas
  • Especially in education, the electoral process,
    the commerce clause

31
5ai) The Supreme Court Education
  • Education is traditionally a local matter
  • Brown v. Board of Education (1954) ended the
    tradition of local control
  • Ruled unconstitutional segregated state
    educational systems

32
5aii) The Courts Elections
  • States generally control voter qualifications
  • However, since 1964 the courts have begun to
    involve itself in the electoral
  • The Court has invalidated poll taxes
  • The courts have also involved themselves in the
    redistricting process

33
5aiii) The Courts and the Commerce Clause
  • Congress commerce clause has been broadly
    construed to justify virtually any national
    intrusion into state matters
  • Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit
    Authority (1985)
  • Fed. govt. can compel states to pay all employees
    at least minimum wage
  • The Supreme Court has essentially declared the
    10th Amendment meaningless!

34
5b) The Devolution Revolution and the Court
  • Republican presidents appointment of conservative
    judges has revived the federalism argument
  • The Rehnquist Court has generally supported
    states rights against those of the national
    govt.
  • However, recent progressive decisions have upheld
    affirmative action struck down laws
    criminalizing homosexual sodomy

35
5c) Politics NowMarriage in the Federal System
  • Vermont became the 1st state to sanction same sex
    civil unions
  • The relationship between the state and the
    institution of marriage
  • The state is viewed as having an interest in
    promoting marriage
  • Marriage as predominating viewed as a
    relationship b/n a man and a woman

36
5ci) Politics Now cont.
  • The implications of the equal protection clause
    of the 14th Amendment
  • If heterosexual relationships are protected
    promoted by the state, why not gay relationships?
  • Hawaiis attempt to ban homosexual marriages
    the U.S. Defense of Marriage Act
  • The idea of a Federal Marriage Amendment
  • Why is gay marriage such a controversial issue?
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