LOCAL GOVERNMENT

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What's New?

GAO Issues Report on Local and State Government Uses of Recovery Act Funds
September 17, 2009. The Government Accountability Office has issued a report on "States' and Localities' Current and Planned Uses of Funds While Facing Fiscal Stresses." This report examines the federal funds to date to these governments.
   Access the Report.

School Districts and Cities Seek "Race to the Top" and "Fiscal Stabilization" Funds
July 24, 2009. The President and the Secretary of State have announced recovery funds to be made available as state stabilization grants and for what the administration calls the "Race to the Top Program." The receipt of funds is tied to commitments by states and school districts to the administration's evaluation of student progress and teacher pay for performance requirements. The Department of Education has released the notices with a comment period which will be, but have not yet been published in the Federal Register.
   Access Dept. of Ed. Notice on the Program and Criteria for Race to the Top Funds.
   Access Dept. of Ed. Notice on the Program and Criteria for Fiscal Stabilization Funds.
   Access the Secretary of Education's Comments on Annuouncement of the Race to the Top program.
   President Obama's Remarks at the Announcement of the Race to the Top Funds Program .

PEW Trust Issues Report on City Budget Balancing Efforts in Recessions
July 22, 2009. The Philadelphia Research Initiative of the Pew Charitable Trusts has published a report entitled Tough Decisions and Limited Options: How Philadelphia and Other Cities are Balancing Budgets in a Time of Recession. The report considers the tendency to avoid tax measures and use human resource constraints to deal with the challenges, but considers an alternative approach.
   Access the Report.

Supreme Court Delivers Ruling in the New Haven Firefighters Case
June 29, 2009. The Supreme Court has delivered its opinion in the Ricci v. DeStefano case, concerning the New Haven, Connecticut firefighters promotion test. The 5-4 ruling was delivered by Justice Kennedy, striking the city's decision not to use the results of the test for promotions. Justice Ginsburg wrote for the four dissenters, warning that the Court had ignored law, history, and the clear facts of the New Haven case. For more information and for the opinions in the case, see the Civil Rights page of this website.

President Issues Memorandum on Preemption
May 22, 2009. President Obama has issued a memorandum cautioning federal agencies against inappropriate use of preemption powers. Specifically, the memorandum states in part that: "1. Heads of departments and agencies should not include in regulatory preambles statements that the department or agency intends to preempt State law through the regulation except where preemption provisions are also included in the codified regulation. 2. Heads of departments and agencies should not include preemption provisions in codified regulations except where such provisions would be justified under legal principles governing preemption, including the principles outlined in Executive Order 13132. 3. Heads of departments and agencies should review regulations issued within the past 10 years that contain statements in regulatory preambles or codified provisions intended by the department or agency to preempt State law, in order to decide whether such statements or provisions are justified under applicable legal principles governing preemption. Where the head of a department or agency determines that a regulatory statement of preemption or codified regulatory provision cannot be so justified, the head of that department or agency should initiate appropriate action, which may include amendment of the relevant regulation."
   Access the Presidential Memorandum.

Intergovernmental Agreements Resources
May 16, 2009. One of the most important aspects of contemporary local governance is the development and operation of various types of intergovernmental and interlocal agreements. It is increasingly common for states to have IGA statutes, but they vary widely as to the types and forms of IGAs among local governments and between local governments and other organizations. Tribal governments also have adopted policies on IGAs with state or local governments. The Washington Municipal Research and Services Center (MRSC) provides excellent resources on the subject, including a wide array of sample agreement of various types. The City of Vancouver, Washington, like a number of other communities, posts its current intergovernmental agreements on its Internet Site.
   Access the MRSC Washington Intergovernment Cooperation Resources.
   Access MRSC Sample IGA Agreements.
   Access the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Ordinance on IGAs.
   Access City of Vancouver, WA Interlocal Agreements Page.

Municipal E-Governance Report Issued
May 12, 2009. The E-Governance Institute of the School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University, Newark, and the Department of Public Administration at San Francisco State University in cooperation with the Public Technology Institute, have issued a report entitled U.S. Minicipalities E-Governance Report (2008): An Assessment of Municipal Websites. The press release indicates that: "The survey evaluated municipal websites in the areas of privacy, usability, content, service, and citizen participation and ranked the cities nationally. . . . [T]he study listed the following cities among the top five in digital governance: Washington, D.C., Portland, Oregon, and New York, New Orleans, and Los Angeles. These cities will be awarded the Municipal Web Portal Excellence Awards at the Public Technology Institute’s Technology Solutions and Innovations Conference."
   Access the survey report.

Oregon Legislature Revises Ethics Disclosure Law
April 15, 2009. Reacting to complaints about the previous ethics law that many local volunteer officials considered excessively intrusive and burdensome and not really relevant to their offices or their actions, the state legislature has adopted SB 30 which reduces some reporting requirements and makes other changes. Fore more information and to access the legislation, see the Oregon page of this website.

GAO Provides A Report on Single Audits by Federal Agencies of State and Local Grants
April 10, 2009. The GAO has provided a report entitled "Single Audit: Opportunities Exist to Improve the Single Audit Process and Oversight" aimed at determining how well federal agencies are doing at implementing the requirements of the Single Audit Act with respect to grants to state and local governments.
   Access the report.

Oregon Senate Passes Tort Liability Amendments
February 27, 2009. The Oregon Senate has passed SB 311 which amendments the Oregon Tort Liability Act and has sent the bill to the House. The bill increases liability limits on state and local governments and their employees. For more information and the text of the legislation, go to the Oregon page of this website.

Supreme Court Rejects Demand to Allow Monument to be Placed in City Park
February 25, 2009. The long awaited ruling in a local government free speech case was delivered today in an opinion by Justice Alito. As Alito explained the matter: "This case presents the question whether the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment entitles a private group to insist that a municipality permit it to place a permanent monument in a city park in which other donated monuments were previously erected. The Court of Appeals held that the municipality was required to accept the monument because a public park is a traditional public forum. We conclude, however, that although a park is a traditional public forum for speeches and other transitory expressive acts, the display of a permanent monument in a public park is not a form of expression to which forum analysis applied. Instead, the placement of a permanent monument in a public park is best viewed as a form of government speech and is therefore not subject to scrutiny under the Free Speech Clause." Pleasant Grove City v. Summum, No. 07-665, Slip opinion at 1. There were four concurring opinions, but no dissent.
   Access the opinion.

OMB Issues Implementation Guidance for the Stimulus Package
February 23, 2009. The Office of Management and Budget has issued a memorandum to executive agencies and departments entitled "Initial Implementing Guidance for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
   The House and Senate passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and it has been signed by the president as P.L. 111-5. The final bill is a modified version of the Collins-Nelson Amendment (570) which was an amendment in the nature of a substitute which completely replaced the legislation that previously passed theU.S. House of Representatives. The GPO has not yet published P.L. 111-5 in public law format, but the law is available in the bill number format as adopted by both houses and signed by the president.
   Access the OMB Initital Implementation Guidance.
   Access the bill as passed by the house and Senate.

GAO Reports on Local and State Government Fiscal Challenges from Health Care Issues
November 19, 2008. The Government Accountability Office has provided testimony to the Senate Finance Committee on the threats to state and local government fiscal wellbeing from rising health care costs. Stanley Czerwinski, Director of the GAO Strategic Issues unit provided evidence to Congress that "Rapidly rising health care costs are not simply a federal budget problem. Growth in health-related spending also drives the fiscal challenges facing state and local governments. The magnitude of these challenges presents long-term sustainability challenges for all levels of government." Summary p. 1. The testimony provides an analysis on long -term and as well as near-term issues.
   Read the GAO testimony.

U.S. Supreme Court Lets Favorable Tax Treatment for State and Local Bonds Stand
May 21, 2008. In a long-awaited ruling on a seemingly arcane subject, the Surpeme Court has upheld a state tax policy that allowed tax policy under which it exempts interest on bonds issued by the state and its local governments from taxation, but taxes interest from bonds issued in other states. The Kentucky policy was challenged as a violation of the domant commerce clause of Article I of the Constitution. However, in his opinion for the Court (except for part III-B which was not ), Justice Souter found that the state tax law did not violate the commerce clause. While the Justice scattered in terms of their various concurring positions, there were only two dissents, filed by Justices Kennedy and Alito.
   Read the Dept. of Revenue of Ky v. Davis ruling.

GAO Releases New Study on State and Local Employee Retirement Benefits
November 19, 2007. The Government Accountability Office has released a study, entitled State and Local Government Retiree Benefits: Current Status of Benefit Structures, Protections, and Fiscal Outlook for Funding Future Costs. More accurately, this is a corrected version of a study initially issued in September. The study addressed "(1) the types of state and local returee benefits provided and how they are structured, (2) how state and local returee benefits are protected and managed, and (3) the fiscal outlook for state and local retiree benefits and what governments are doing to ensure they can meet their future commitments." (p. 2)
   Read the GAO Report

Washington Supreme Court Strikes Down Property Tax Limitation Measure.
November 8, 2007. The Supreme Court of Washington struck down the one percent property tax increase limitation measure in a case brought by the group Citizens Action for Washington. The governor and state legislature have promised to take legislative action to provide a limitation through legislative means.
   Read the Washington Supreme Court Majority Opinion
   Read the Washington Supreme Court Dissenting Opinion

Federal District Court Strikes Down Hazleton, Pennsylvania Ordinances on Immigrants
July 27, 2007. A federal district court for the middle district of Pennslvania, ruling in a case brought by Latino residents of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, has struck down ordinances adopted by that community during 2006 purportedly aimed at undocumented immigrants but that were applied to some hispanic residents whether they were citizens, permanent residents, or undocumented immigrants, and to employers and landlords as well. Judge James M. Munley found the ordinances violated the Article VI supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and 42 U.S.C. §1981, as well as some provisions of state law. The city has indicated its intention to appeal the matter. (NOTE: THERE HAVE BEEN SOME DIFFICULTIES WITH OPENING THIS FILE ONLINE, BUT IT CAN BE DOWNLOADED AND THEN OPENED OFFLINE.)
   . Read the Lozano v. City of Hazleton Opinion.

U.S. Government Accountability Office Issues Report Identifying A Need for Better Homeland Security Information Sharing with State and Local Governments.
May 10, 2007. The GAO has issued a reporting, finding a lack of effective information sharing with state and local governments in homeland security matters even in the 8 separate information systems administered by the Department of Homeland Security that are designed to ensure intergovernment information sharing.
   Read the GAO Report

Supreme Court Upholds Solid Waste Flow Control Ordinance that Favors Public Benefit Corporation.
May 2, 2007. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a flow control ordinance that requires solid waste haulers to take the materials to facilities operated by a public benefit corporation. This case, United Haulers Assn. v. Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Management Authority, No. 05-1345, draws a substantial distinction between such ordinances that favor private solid waste firms, which were struck down in an earlier decision, C&A Carbone v. Clarkston, 511 U.S. 383 (1994), and those that require movement of the waste to publicly created organizations. The Court rejected claims that this upstate New York ordinance violated by the so-called dormant commerce clause of Article I of the U.S. Constitution. Writing for a framented majority (four justices on all parts of the opinion, Scalia on two, and Thomas concurring in the judgement), Chief Justice Roberts said: "Disposing of trash has been a traditional government activity for years, and laws that favor the government in such areas -- but treat every private business, whether in-state or out-of-state, exactly the same -- do not discriminate against interstate commerce for purposes of the Commerce Clause." Slip opinion, at 1.
   Read the Opinion

Local Government Eminent Domain Authority for Economic Development Purposes Reaffirmed in New London Case.
June 23, 2005. The Supreme Court has reaffirmed the authority of state and local governments to use eminent doman powers to take property for the purpose of economic development, reaffirming authority that has been in place since the Supreme Court's Berman v. Parker ruling of 1954. The case, Kelo v. City of New London, concerned a New London, Connecticut effort to acquire property in support of a economic development commitment by a private firm predicated on the ability to have the targeted property. There had been questions by property rights advocates as to whether the Court would use this case as an opportunity to limit eminent domain powers, but the Court refused to take that course.
   Read the Opinion

Information for Students and Others New to Local Government Administration

ICMA Local Government Management Fellowships
   Access Fellowship Information.

U.S. Based Associations

International City/County Management Association
   http://www.icma.org/go.cfm

National Association of Counties
   http://www.naco.org/naco/index.htm

National League of Cities
    http://www.cais.com/nlc/

Government Finance Officers Association
    http://www.gfoa.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=220

Oregon City/County Management Association
For a Full List of Oregon Local Government Organizations, Click on the Oregon Button on the The Left Hand Side of this Page
    http://www.occma.org

Vermont League of Cities and Towns
   http://www.vlct.org/

California City Management Foundation
   Resource Guide for City Managers In Transition

Texas City Management Association
   http://www.tcma.org/

California Special District Association
   http://www.csda.net/

Colorado Special District Association
   http://www.sdaco.org/

Florida Special District Association
   http://www.fasd.com/

Oregon Special Districts Association
   http://www.sdao.com/

Utah Association of Special Districts
   

      Recruiting and Selecting a City Manager
      http://www.tcma.org/
      http://www.tcma.org/jobs_checklist.html

Local Government Resources

U.S. State & Local Gateway
    http://www.statelocal.gov/

State and Local Government on the Net
    http://www.piperinfo.com/state/index.cfm

Access Local Government
    http://www.algov.org/

Worldwide Local Government Web Page
    http://world.localgov.org/

ICMA  Related Sites
   http://www.icma.org/othersites/index.htm

Sustainable Community Development
   http://www.statelocal.gov/sustain.html

Organizations of and for Local Government
   http://www.ecoiq.com/onlineresources/center/offorlocal/index.html

Cities Environment Reports on the Internet
   http://www.ceroi.net/

U.S. Communities Purchasing & Finance Agency
   http://www.uscommunities.org/

State and Local Governments
   Library of Congress Internet Resources Page
   http://www.loc.gov/global/state/stategov.html

International Local Government Associations

United Nations Habitat
   http://www.undp.org/un/habitat/

Local-Government.net
   (British Local Government Site)
   http://www.local-government.net/

Infor4local.gov.uk
   http://www.info4local.gov.uk/

Australian Local Government Association
   http://www.alga.com.au/default.htm

Local Government New Zealand
   http://www.lgnz.co.nz/

Virtual Academy of Local Government Studies
   (Findland, University of Tampere)
   http://www.uta.fi/valogos/

Japan Local Government Centre
   http://www.ics.com.au/jlgc/

Resources for Local Government in Eastern Europe
   (Urban Institute)
   http://www.urban.org/centers/iac/localgov/

International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives
   http://www.iclei.org/