Federal and State Mandating

Abstract

It is not always realized that local governments are as regulated by state and federal directives as businesses and other private institutions. While government oversight of businesses is encompassed by the notion of regulation, the regulation of localities is subsumed under the heading of "the mandate issue. " Local governments are at the end of a funnel of requirements imposed by both their respective states and the federal government, and this article explores the definitional and descriptive spadework that must be done before more serious work can proceed in the study of mandates. The first inventory of federal mandates is provided, along with inventories of a sample of five states. The inventories are based on a typology developed for the study of mandates. The findings provide an empirical setting for the increased concern over the number of mandates and the trend for greater federal involvement in directing the affairs of local governments.