Exploring Municipal Mobilization across States

2021 ◽  
pp. 63-83
Author(s):  
Julia Payson
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Property Tax ◽  
Local Property ◽  
State Level ◽  
State Legislature ◽  
Term Limits ◽  
The State ◽  
Elected Officials ◽  
High Turnover ◽  
Tax Limitations

This chapter zooms out to examine the state-level features that are associated with differences in the intensity of local government lobbying. Several state characteristics correlate with municipal lobbying, such as local property tax limitations, but two of the most striking are the combination of term limits and the level of professionalization in the state legislature. Cities are also more likely to mobilize as state transfers comprise a greater share of municipal budgets. These findings suggest that lobbyists might be particularly useful at facilitating representation in complex legislative environments with high turnover among elected officials—especially when cities depend on the state for revenue.

Governance models of public utility commissions in the United States

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 229-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas J. Howe
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Action ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Legislature ◽  
The State ◽  
Public Utility ◽  
Political Action Committees ◽  
Special Interest Groups ◽  
Governance Model

Regulation of utilities at the state level in the United States is undertaken by a commission on which anywhere from three to seven commissioners sit and must vote on virtually all significant utility actions, including rate requests, resource plans, acquisitions and mergers, and financing mechanisms. Public utility commissions (PUCs) are, in a very real sense, courts with adjudicatory responsibility over the area of state utility laws. In hearing a utility case, they must follow the state’s statutes and court rules. The commissioners function as judges in this court of public utility law. In a majority of states, commissioners are appointed by the state’s governor with the advice and consent of the state legislature. In a significant minority of states, commissioners are elected by popular vote. However, recent changes in US election law have made it easier for corporations and special interest groups, called political action committees, to influence elections through donations targeting direct voter outreach on behalf of specific candidates. This chapter examines what the entry of political spending in PUC elections means, and whether elected commissioners can adjudicate in the public interest, or will adjudicate for special interests. The chapter concludes that while both the appointment and election governance model can produce both “good” and “bad” commissioners, it is the elected commission that is most at risk of selecting commissioners that will not be truly independent and objective arbiters of the law.

State Equalizing Aids and Metropolitan Tax Base Sharing: A Comparative Analysis

1981 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 449-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter S. Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Property Tax ◽  
The State ◽  
Twin Cities ◽  
Tax Base ◽  
Fiscal Capacity ◽  
Tax Bases

State gram programs aimed at equalizing local government fiscal capacities and metropolitan-wide programs for the sharing of property tax bases are very similar in terms of objectives as well as operation. The Twin Cities tax base sharing system, which has served as a model for numerous other proposals, has some serious deficiencies; a proposal for eliminating these defects is developed by viewing tax base sharing as a set of fiscal capacity equalizing grants. Alternative formulas are evaluated, and the merits of tax base sharing at the state rather than metropolitan level are discussed.

The German Property Tax as a Local Business Tax

1987 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
R-D Postlep
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Business Cycle ◽  
Property Tax ◽  
Local Property ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Spatial Allocation ◽  
Local Business ◽  
Business Tax

In this paper the property tax (Grundsteuer B) in Germany is evaluated as a local business tax. The tax is discussed from the perspective of its impact on economic growth, business cycle behaviour, and the spatial allocation of local government financial resources. It is concluded that, taken together, the impacts of the local property tax do not suggest that the tax could not be used to a greater extent, particularly when compared with the present local business tax on profits and assets.

scholarly journals Heterogeneous Monetary Policy Transmission in the US Housing Market

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-96
Author(s):  
Maria Christidou ◽  
Panagiotis Theodore Konstantinou ◽  
Costas Roumanias
Keyword(s):  
Monetary Policy ◽  
House Prices ◽  
National Level ◽  
Property Tax ◽  
State Level ◽  
The State ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Housing Investment ◽  
Policy Transmission ◽  
The Us

We assess the effects of monetary policy on real house prices and housing investment across the US states during the period 1983-2008. We find that an expansionary monetary shock generates higher housing investment and house prices at the national level. At the state level, however the responses of housing investment and house prices differ from the nation-wide responses. We relate this heterogeneity to various observable factors such as property tax rates, howeownership, income inequality, poverty and demographic factors. All these factors are crucial in explaining the heterogeneity of the state-level responses.

Politics in a Bottle: BPA, Children’s Health, and the Fight for Toxics Reform

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jody A. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Health Hazard ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Legislature ◽  
The State ◽  
Grassroots Activism ◽  
Local Municipalities ◽  
Federal Food ◽  
Baby Bottles ◽  
Health Studies

The nationwide legal uprising against the chemical bisphenol A (more popularly known as BPA) began in Minnesota in 2009 when the state legislature there voted to ban the substance from children’s products—including sippy cups and baby bottles. Grassroots activism aimed at insti­tuting local and state-level legislation banning BPA in children’s products has since escalated as new players in the world of toxics activism have emerged with demands to remove the controversial chemical from products designed for use by children. Frustrated with inaction at the federal level following scores of health studies, a slew of ambiguous regulatory reviews, and staunch efforts by lobby organizations, these new groups have taken their fight about BPA and health to states, counties, cities, and local municipalities. As of this writing, eleven U.S. states now have legislation banning or restricting the use of BPA in products for kids. These actions in the United States followed actions taken by Canada to first identify BPA as a minimal health hazard to children (in 2008) and then to later officially recognized BPA as toxic (in 2010), a declaration that requires government action. Indeed, all of this action at the state level is having the intended effect: The federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced in July of 2012 that BPA could no longer be used in baby bottles and children’s drinking cups. But that pronouncement has done little to quell the debate. As the president of the National Research Center for Women and Families noted about the July 2012 decision: “[The FDA is] instituting a ban that is already in effect voluntarily.” The sentiment is congruent with the statements made by the American Chemistry Council (the nation’s largest lobby group for the chemical industry) following the announcement. According to the statement, the American Chemistry Council requested that the FDA take action because of the patchwork of legislation taking shape at the state level and that had already encouraged most manufacturers to simply stop using BPA in these products (Tavernise 2012).

scholarly journals Florida's Property Tax Reform: Local Government Impacts of the Proposed Constitutional Change

EDIS ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodney L. Clouser
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Tax Reform ◽  
Property Tax ◽  
Resource Economics ◽  
The State ◽  
Constitutional Amendment ◽  
Constitutional Change ◽  
Fact Sheet ◽  
The Impact

FE707, a 7-page fact sheet by Rodney L. Clouser, is part of the Florida’s Property Tax Reform series. It reports changes in the estimated cost of the proposed constitutional amendment and informs about the impact of proposed changes to the Florida Constitution that will be voted on by the state citizens on January 29, 2008. Includes references. Published by the UF Department of Food and Resource Economics, January 2008.

scholarly journals Optimization of local government activities in the provision of public services

2021 ◽  
pp. 245-249
Author(s):  
I.I. Lutsiv
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Public Services ◽  
State Level ◽  
The State ◽  
The Body ◽  
Administrative Functions ◽  
Administrative Service ◽  
Single Standard ◽  
The Right

The article is devoted to the study of optimization of local government in the context of public services in con-nection with the implementation of the Law of Ukraine of November 3, 2020 «On Amendments to Certain Leg-islative Acts of Ukraine on Optimizing the Network and Functioning of Administrative Service Centers services provided in electronic form». It is determined that public services provided by local governments are a type of activity of executive bodies of local self-government and municipal institutions and organizations created by them to implement informational, consulting, registration, permitting and other administrative functions performed on a budget basis, in accordance with the established regulations, technological and information cards, ensure the right of individuals and legal entities to meet the needs with minimal time and at the appropriate professional level. It is noted that technological and information cards of public services provided by local governments are a legal act adopted by local governments providing public services, which contains a consistent description of administra-tive procedures necessary for the implementation of all components of the service, as well as the standard of provid-ing such a service, which is drawn up and communicated directly to the applicant by officials of the body providing the service or authorized persons.  It is indicated that for the state, which implements the general administrative policy in one legal field of distribu-tion of powers of local governments, the work on standardization of technological and information cards should be carried out centrally, at the state level. It is necessary to form and approve a single standard list of public services, based on all available powers of local governments.

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