Download Chapter 3 Federalism

Chapter 3 Federalism
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Learning Objectives
3.1 Identify the types of governmental systems and the
sources of federal and state power
3.2 Describe the advantages of federalism
3.3 Evaluate how Texas uses the funding received from
the federal government
3.4 Assess how elements of cooperation and coercion
within the federal system have changed over time
3.5 Analyze examples of the conflicts over federalism
Organizing the Constitutional System
• Unitary Systems
– “top-down” government
– Centralized organization
– Central government supreme authority
– Central government grants specific power to state
and local government
– Republic of Texas was a unitary system
Organizing the Constitutional System
• Confederal System
– State delegates power to central government for
specific purposes
– Majority of power rests with lower level
government
– Central government has very little power
– United States Articles of Confederation was a
confederal system
Organizing the Constitutional System
• Federal System
– Power sharing arrangement between central
government and states
– Federal government has authority over states in
some matters
– Federal government and states share authority in
other matters
– States have authority in other matters
– United States Constitution is a federal system
Organizing the Constitutional System
• Supremacy Clause
– Laws created under the authority of the United
States “shall be the supreme law of the land”
• Enumerated Powers
– Powers identified as powers the federal
government has
– Expressed or Delegated Powers
– Specified in writing for the federal government
Organizing the Constitutional System
• Implied Powers
– Necessary and Proper Clause
• Section 8
• Congress can make laws to carry out
enumerated powers
– Commerce Clause
• Congress has power to regulate commerce
Organizing the Constitutional System
• Reserved Powers
– Tenth Amendment
– Reserve Clause: powers not listed in Constitution reserved
to the states
• Concurrent Powers
– Powers shared between state and federal governments
• Full Faith and Credit
– Each state respects the rights and proceedings of other
states
– Necessary for federalism to work properly
Advantages of Federalism
• Stronger Central Government
• Representation
– States and local governments have a major say in how
funds spent
• Policy Innovation
– Laboratories of Democracy
• Trust in levels of government
– Texans distrustful of national government
– Trust in local and state government
– Federal intervention following Civil War entrenched the value of state
autonomy
Texas and Federal Funding
• Important way federal and state governments share
power: budget finance
– Federal funding over a third of total Texas budget
• Federally funding categories
– Medicaid largest allocation of federal funds
– Second largest category is business development
• Disaster Relief
– Major way of receiving federal funds
– Texas relies on disaster funding more than any other state
Styles of Federalism
• Dual Federalism
– Federal, state, and local government each has exclusive
powers reserved to it alone
• Cooperative Federalism
– Each level of government has overlapping and intertwined
authority over shared issues
– Categorical Grants
• Funds distributed for specific programs
– Matching Grants
• State must have “skin in the game”
Styles of Federalism
• New Federalism
– Greater responsibilities, duties and funding to the states
– Reduces the size of the federal government
– Block grants
• Fixed funds for a particular policy or program
• Coercive Federalism
– Federal government establishes guidelines for states
– Unfunded Mandates
• Federal policies without federal funding
– Preemptions
• Federal regulations state implement with conditions
Texas and Conflicts Over Federalism
• Texas versus Washington
– Legal system is often the arena for battle
– Texas has sued the federal government most frequently
over environmental issues
• Mixed success
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Tidelands Controversy
Immigration
Voter Identification
Common Core
Texas Takeaways
• The three types of constitutional systems are unitary,
confederal, and federal.
• Enumerated powers are specified in writing and retained by
the federal government so that Congress has exclusive
province to act on them. Implied powers are powers that
the federal government could possess but that are not
expressly identified.
• Examples of concurrent powers include the power of
taxation and enforcement of immigration laws, which are
shared at the state and federal level.
• The advantages of federalism are a stronger central
government, representation of interests, policy innovation,
and the ability to locate government closer to the people,
which often results in a higher trust in government.
Texas Takeaways
• Texans support state government over the federal
government on both economic and social issues.
• The state received $69 billion in funding from the
federal government. This amounted to 35% of the
state’s budget.
• Most of the federal funds spent by the state went
to social programs such as Medicare, followed by
education. Other programs include
transportation and other social welfare programs.
Disaster funds (not regularly provided) are
provided following a disaster.
Texas Takeaways
• Layer cake federalism is the model of dual federalism in
which the arrangement of each layer of government is
distinct from the other and each maintains its own power
and authority. Marble cake federalism describes the style of
cooperative federalism whereby the layers (of government)
overlap and mix with each other, and jurisdictions on policy
and regulatory matters are not bound by cleanly set layers.
• New federalism gives more authority to the states, whereas
coercive federalism makes demands on states to achieve
specific objectives.
• An unfunded mandate is a policy set by a higher level of
government that requires spending funds but does not
allocate funds for that purpose. In many cases, local
governments may not have the funds to cover the policy.
Texas Takeaways
• Texas wins about 25% of the time in court against
the federal government, although the number
may be less important than the substance of the
legal victory.
• Texas challenges the federal government most on
issues of immigration, education standards,
environmental rules, administering elections,
medical care coverage, and business regulations.
• Shelby County v. Holder was the Supreme Court
case that released Texas from automatic federal
oversight on voting and election issues.