Local, State, and National Government PDF

Local, State, and National Government Objective In this lesson, you will analyze the powers given to the national, state, and local governments. The Federal System federal The Constitution gives certain powers only to the _______________ government,...

Local, State, and National Government Objective In this lesson, you will analyze the powers given to the national, state, and local governments. The Federal System federal The Constitution gives certain powers only to the _______________ government, and others exclusively to the states ___________. share In a number of areas, however, the federal government and the states ___________ authority. Powers and Spheres of Authority The federal government has three basic types of powers: sovereign 1. The inherent powers of the federal government are those that a ___________________ government must have. expressed 2. The federal government's enumerated powers, also known as its ___________________ powers, are Congress the powers explicitly assigned to _______________ by the Constitution. 3. The Supreme Court reasoned that Article I of the Constitution permits the federal government to take actions not expressly authorized by the Constitution as long as they are necessary to carry out its enumerated ____________________ powers. These powers are called implied powers. federal If federal law and state law conflict, ______________ law takes precedence. The Constitution gives the federal government exclusive control of only certain activities, such as declaring war and waging _________, treaties signing ________________ with foreign countries, coining and printing money ____________, and regulating commerce between the states. concurrent Powers that belong to both the state and federal governments are known as _________________ powers. State Governments mirror Under the Constitution, states kept their individual governments, which came to _____________ the structure and function of the federal government. For instance, each state government has its own constitution and three _____________ branches of government. A governor instead of a president serves in the executive branch. State Constitutions State constitutions outline the principles, structures, and powers of state governments. Each has a bill of rights rights enumerating, or listing, the _______________ guaranteed to the state's citizens.  All state constitutions require regular State constitutions contain the same five basic elements: elections. Many state constitutions principles 1. fundamental _________________ include rights not guaranteed on the national rights 2. citizens' ___________ education level, such as the right to _______________ , to 3. governmental structure, powers, and processes privacy, and to unionize labor. Compared with amendment 4. ___________________ procedures the US Constitution, state constitutions are 5. miscellaneous provisions easy relatively __________ amend to ____________ or even revise. State Legislatures assemblies The state legislatures, sometimes known as general ___________________, provide the cornerstone of state government. Elections age of candidacy for senators and Similar to the federal government, each state has laws to regulate the _______ two representatives. Terms for state representatives and senators are either _______ or four years, depending on party the state. As in elections for US Congress, each political ___________ nominates a single candidate for a given seat in the state legislature. The voters of the state then go to the polls to choose from the party nominees. Structure chambers Nearly all states divide their legislatures into two ________________, or houses. In all states, the upper house Senate is the state equivalent of the US _____________. The states differ in their naming of the lower house, which is Representatives their equivalent of the US House of _______________________. The terms used by different states are assembly _________________, delegates house of ___________________, and house of representatives. Leadership and Procedures speaker Lower houses elect their presiding officer, called the ______________, from among their ranks. Some state senates do the same, but in the majority of states, the lieutenant governor presides over the senate. Most committee upper houses and all lower houses give their presiding officer the power to appoint ____________________ chairs _____________. Like Congress, state legislatures rely heavily on committees to do most of the work of legislation evaluating and producing ____________________. As the legislative branch of a state, the legislature fulfills laws its foremost purpose of writing and passing ____________. Executive Branch executive The governor is the chief ___________________ governors of state government. Most ____________________ share executive authority with several other elected officials. Most state governors serve four-year terms. Many line item states give their governors a _________-_________ veto. The line-item veto, which is unconstitutional at the  sections federal level, allows governors to veto individual ________________ of a bill instead of the whole bill. orders Governors can also issue executive _____________, law which have the force of ________. Governors usually have a variety of other powers, such as the authority to pardon criminals, command the state's National ________________ Guard ___________, and appoint various state officials. State constitutions generally divide executive power among several officials. Governors have overarching responsibility for implementing state overarching laws, while other state officials have more _________________ responsibilities. Typically, the lieutenant ____________________ governor has few responsibilities other than to succeed to the governorship in case record of a vacancy. Nearly all states have a secretary of state who is the state's chief _____________ keeper ______________. elections The secretary of state also monitors and certifies _______________. Like the attorney attorney general for the federal government, the state _________________ general _________________ serves as the chief lawyer and law enforcement official of the state government. Judicial Branch state State courts settle criminal, family, and business disputes according to ___________ laws. If state law conflicts supersedes with federal law, federal law ____________________. State judicial systems have layers of jurisdiction ____________________, or authority, with municipal, county, appeals, and state supreme courts. municipal In larger urban areas, __________________ courts handle a wide range of judicial disputes, including traffic, small claims, and family disputes. circuit County courts or ______________ courts hear appeals from municipal courts. In rural areas without first municipal courts, county courts hold the ___________ level of jurisdiction. appeals Appeals courts hear the __________________ from lower courts. Generally, those convicted in lower correctly courts can appeal at least once to a higher court to ensure that lower courts have ________________ applied laws and procedures. interpret A state supreme court holds the authority to _____________________ the state constitution and to unconstitutional declare laws ___________________. final The decisions of a state supreme court are almost always ____________, but sometimes a case US Supreme Court. may be appealed and make its way to the _____ Local Governments unitary Each state has a _______________ governmental structure. In a unitary government, all political power is central derived from a single ________________ state authority. Local governments are created by the _____________ abolished and may be modified or even ___________________ at its discretion. There are four basic types of local governments: municipalities, counties, townships, and special-purpose districts. Municipalities municipality Many Americans live in a city, town, village, or other type of __________________. A municipality is a political unit that is granted self-government by the state through a written agreement called a municipal charter. Counties In areas not under the jurisdiction of a municipality, government services reach residents primarily through county another form of local government: the _____________. Counties exist primarily to help each state govern and provide services to its citizens. They have many responsibilities, including administering and enforcing state taxes law, collecting ______________, maintaining building and _____________________ roads and bridges, keeping public commissions records, and overseeing elections. Counties generally have a number of elected _______________________ or boards that carry out various county functions. Townships smaller Townships, or towns, are _________________ regions within counties. The definition and function of a township varies depending on the state. In the Midwest and certain mid-Atlantic states, townships are large rural subdivisions of counties that provide services to ______________ areas. Elected supervisors or trustees _________________ usually govern this type of local government. Special-Purpose District Special-purpose districts serve a specialized function. Special-purpose districts have many of the same __________ powers as cities and counties, including the authority to impose taxes, formulate policy _____________, spend and ___________ funds. Their area of authority, however, is much narrower. School _______________ districts ______________, a common type of special-purpose district, are responsible for local public ______________ water schools. Other special-purpose districts manage _____________ resources, provide fire transportation protection, or maintain _______________________ infrastructure. Local Executives and Legislatures Cities and townships often follow on one of three plans: mayor-council, council-manager, or commission. Mayor-Council mayor About half of all US cities have an elected _____________ council and a ________________. Some mayors are strong veto and have the power to _________ city council actions, but charters vary from city to city. The country's cities smallest and largest _____________ tend to follow this pattern. Council-Manager manager Around one-third of local cities and towns employ an appointed, professional _______________ who governs midsized alongside an elected council. This pattern commonly persists among ___________________ cities. Commission mayor In the commission plan, no ____________ exists. Instead, citizens elect a board of commissioners at-large to one run the city. Each commissioner holds responsibility for ________ area of public administration, such as public schools ______________ fire or the police and ___________ departments. Participation in State and Local Government There are two main ways in which ordinary citizens can participate in state and local governments: by holding office political ______________ voting and by ______________ directly on questions of government policy. Local Government Offices politicians Most local officials are not professional ___________________. Citizens can often run for and be elected to nominated local political offices without first being ___________________ by a political party. Direct Democracy directly In direct democracy, the people vote ___________________ on questions of policy. Direct democracy does national not exist at the __________________ level. The federal government is run entirely according to representative democracy: voters elect representatives to decide questions of policy for the public. Citizens can participate in three major forms of direct democracy. citizens 1. Initiatives, used by about half the states, allow __________________ to place a new proposal on a ballot for all voters to decide on (usually by creating a petition that gets enough signatures). If the legislature voters approve it, the initiative becomes law, just as if the state _____________________ had passed it. legislature 2. In the referendum process, the _______________________ first passes a statute. In the next election, voters the state holds a referendum on the statute, and the ______________ decide whether or not to approve it. 3. The recall process begins with a petition, calling for the removal of an elected public official. If the petition is successful, the recall proposal appears on the ballot to be approved or rejected by the voters. Summary How are state governments similar to and different from the federal government? All state governments are modeled after the federal government. They consist of the three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The U.S. Constitution mandated that all states need to uphold a “republican form” of government, although the three-branch structure is not required.