Describe the relationship between the federal government and state and local governments

Ryan Wiseman

What is the relationship between local and state governments? Is it the same as the relationship between the federal and state governments? You'll find that it isn't. Why not and how so? Keep reading and you'll find your answer.

When we look at the relationship between the federal government and the state governments, we have a system known as federalism, in which the central national government does not hold all power, but shares power with sovereign states. This power to the states was expressly granted by the tenth amendment, the last of the Bill of Rights, which states “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the People.” In other words, the federal government shares sovereignty with states, allowing the states the freedom to create their own sovereign laws based on their own needs and wants. Once again, this is known as federalism.

On the other hand, the local governments, whether they be cities, townships, counties, or towns, or all the other special local government districts that have been created, such as school districts, water districts, and other special districts, are not given sovereignty by their own state governments; local governments, whatever their form, are creatures of the state, which determines what powers they have, what their obligations are, what privileges they hold, and what restrictions are held to limit their power. At any time, the state can disband any local government, or create a new one – what this means is that the local governments are not organizations that share power and sovereignty with their state governments, but are mere extensions of state governments. Whereas state governments are like outside contractors working for a bigger business on their own terms, local governments are like employees within the bigger business of state government – local governments are merely delegated state powers over a local district. The concept of federalism, which is held by our national government towards individual states, is not shared by individual states in their connection with local governments, as it is elsewhere, such as in Mexico or Brazil.

States can disband, or dissolve, local governments whenever they choose to do so, in order to change things up if they so choose to. The national government, on the other hand, cannot arbitrarily dissolve state governments – they must let them be. One example of how local governments are merely an extension of state government can be seen in the fact that municipalities, such as medium and large-size cities, get their power from state governments which give the city a charter, denoting their boundaries, limitations of their powers, the functions they are allowed, their structure, their methods of taxation and finance, and what roles need to be elected, among other things, all making the city something of a ‘municipal corporation.’ In this regard, a state can take away a city charter at any time, or change it.

Dillon’s Rule (*see below), a statement about the limitations of power cities have, based on their charters, cites that cities only possess those powers expressly granted to them in their charter. This is definitely different than the powers granted to states within the U.S. Constitution’s tenth amendment. Any powers not specifically granted to the U.S. national government are given to the states, or to the people. On the other hand, any powers not specifically granted to a city in its charter is not given to them, which is just the opposite of the tenth amendment concerning states’ powers. It is like this – any powers not specifically given to the U.S. government is allowed to be determined by the states; the states then have their own powers, and allocate some powers to local government, in this case, the city through its city charter; any power that the states don’t use, or specifically grant to cities, or other local government entities by the state, in city charters, or otherwise, is given to the people, allowing them their own power in those few areas that municipalities, state governments, and the national government don’t control.

The fact that local government entities are merely an extension of a state’s power may be a reason why there is not always the separation of powers as you may find in state governments or our national government, such as when the city has a commission or council-manager form of city government. For example, the council-manager type of city government doesn’t separate the legislative and executive powers in a way that it would under a council-mayor form of city government. To find more about types of city governments, read this article.

Because local governments are merely extension of state powers, rather than autonomous entities that are reserved powers not granted to the state, such as the federalist model between our national government and state governments, this means that the type and level of function given to local governments differs by state, since each state determines the type and amount of powers they want to give to their local government entities.

*NOTE - Dillon's Rule:

What is Dillon's Rule? It is considered a cornerstone of U.S. municipal law, and was named after a chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court over a century ago, at a time when municipal governments were riddled with corruption, inefficiency, grafting, and run by political machines. Under this rule, the municipal government only has authority to act in the following cases:

• a specific power is granted to the municipality in the express words of the private act, charter, or statute that was used to create the municipal corporation
• when the power is necessarily or fairly implied in, or incident in, the laws expressly granted
• it is a power that is essential to the declared objects or purposes of the municipal corporation, even though it may not be expressly granted or fairly implied in the express grants of power given to it in the private act, charter, or statute.

In other words, when a question arises about a local government's authority or power, it does not receive the benefit of the doubt, but it is assumed that they don't have that questionable piece of authority or power.

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