Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2022
Abstract
In the 2021 legislative sessions, Republican state lawmakers introduced a glut of preemption bills aimed at giving states more power over the administration of local government operations, signifying a new, deeper level of state interference into the inner workings of cities and counties. . . . Entering the 2021 legislative sessions, Republican state lawmakers used their power to respond to the events of 2020 – the pandemic, the racial justice movement, the presidential election, and what they perceived to be local government overreach (Brownstein 2021) – by introducing a surge of preemption bills aimed at appropriating the machinery of local government operations. As a result, some states now dictate how local elections are run, determine the process for issuing local public health orders, decree how much local governments can cut or shift funds in their budgets for policing, and threaten to give state actors the authority to intervene in local criminal cases. Combined, these and other laws constitute an unprecedented state intrusion into the day-to-day management of cities and counties.
Disciplines
Election Law | Law | Law and Politics
Recommended Citation
Briffault, Richard and Kim Haddow. "An Attack on Local Authority." In The Local Power & Politics Review (2nd edition), edited by Lori Riverstone-Newell. 2022.