State and Local Gov't
Terms
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- exurbs
- municipalities n rural areas that ring suburbs. They typically serve as bedroom communities for the prosperous, providing rural homes with easy access to urban areas,
- party column (Indiana) Ballot
- ballots in which the names of the candidates are arranged according to political party
- public health
- gov't agencies' protection and improvement of citizen health and hygiene.
- Temporary Assistance to Needy Families
- The next-generation welfare program that provides federal assistance in the form of block grants to states, which have great flexibility in designing the program.
- ratification
- vote of entire electorate to approve constitutional change, referendum, or ballot initative.
- merit system
- systems in which employment and promotion in public agencies are based on qualifications and demonstrated
- dillon's rule
- legal principal that says local gov't can only exercie only the powers granted to them by state gov't.
- charter schools
- public schools, often with unique themes, managed by teachers, principals, social workers or nonprofit groups. launched in early 1990s
- metropolitan area
- a populous region typically comprised of a city and surrounding communities having a high degree of social and economic integration.
- Indirect Lobbying
- A form of lobbying in which lobbyists build support for their cause through media, rallies and other ways of influencing public opinion with the ultimate goal of swaying legislators to support their cause.
- patronage
- the process of giving gov't jobs to partisan loyalists.
- political parties
- organizations that nominate and support candidates for elected offices
- representative
- for of gov't in which citizens exercise power indirectly by choosing reps to legislate on thier behalf
- realignment
- when popular support switches from one party to another
- standardized testing
- testing of elementary and secondary students in which poor results can mean either that the student fails to get promoted or that the school loses its accreditation.
- plurality
- the highest number of votes garnered by a candidate for a particular office but short of an outright majority.
- Direct Lobbying
- A form of lobbying in which lobbyists deal directly with legislators to gain their support
- GAO
- an independent nonpartisan federal agency that acts as the investigative arm of Congress making the executive branch accountable to Congress and the government accountable to citizens of the United States
- probation
- supervised punishment in the community
- traditionalistic
- view of gov't dominated by elites
- gerrymandering
- districts drawn w/ the intent of pressing partisan
- broken windows policing
- policing that emphasizes maintaining public order
- municipal bonds
- bonds issued by states, counties, cities, and towns to fund large projects as well as operating budgets. they are exempt from federal taxes and from state and local taxes for the investors who live in the state where they are issued.
- franchise
- right to vote
- revenue bonds
- investments secured by the revenue generated by a state or municipal project
- severance taxes
- taxes on natural resources
- direct democracy
- The means for citizens to make laws themselves, rather than relying on elected representatives,
- individualistic
- political culture that views gov't as a way to achieve individual goals. citizens leave poltics to professionals
- excise / sin taxes
- taxes on alcohol, tobacco, and other similar products that are designed to raise revenues and reduce usage
- Medicare
- The federal health insurance program for elderly citizens.
- deterrence theory
- theory advanced by criminologists that harsh penalties will keep criminals away frommcommitting crimes
- bureaucracy
- public agencies and the programs and services they implement and manage.
- verdict
- a jury's finding in a trial
- 10th amendment
- guarantees a broad, but undefined set of powers be reserved for the states and the people as opposed to the federal gov't
- 14th amendment
- prohibits any state from depriving individuals of the rights and privalegs of citizenship and requires states to provide due process and equal protection guarantees to all citizens
- focused taxes
- taxes that do not alter spending habits or behavior patterns and therefore do not distort the distribution of resources
- community / restorative justice
- movement that emphasizes nontraditional punishment
- political culture
- attidtudes and beliefs broadly shared in a polity about the role and responsibility of gov't
- discretionary spending
- spending controlled in annual appropriations acts,
- common law
- law composed of judges' legal opinions that reflects community practices and evolves over time.
- labs of democracy
- term used to descrbe the ability of states to enage in different policies without federal gov't interference
- school board
- elected or appointed bodies that determine major policies and budgets for each of the nation's school districts
- Medicaid
- A joint state and federal health insurance program that serves low-income mothers and children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
- spoils system
- the right of an electoral winner to decide who works for public agencies
- office group (Massachusetts) ballot
- ballots in which candidates are listed by name under the title of the office they are seeking
- Secret (Australian) Ballot
- Ballots printed by the states that allow voters to pick and choose among different candidates and party preferences in private.
- sociodemographics
- characteristics of a pop., including age, size, and ethinicty
- regional council
- a planning and advisory organization whose members include multiple local governments. often are used to administer state and federal programs that are regionally targeted,
- estate taxes
- taxes levied on a person's estate or total holdings after that person's death
- privileges and immunities clause
- prohibits states from discriminating against citizens of other states
- street level bureaucrats
- lower-level public agency employees who actually take the actions that represent law or policy.
- nat'l supremacy clause
- cons't clasue stating that the federal law takes precdence over al lother laws
- intergovernmental transfers
- funds provided by the federal government to state governments to local governments,
- regressive taxes
- taxes levied on all taxpayers, regardless of income or ability to pay, they tend to place proportionally more of a burden on those with lower incomes.
- judicial review
- power of courts to assess whether a law is in compliance with the constitution
- open primary
- election races that are avilable to all registered voters regardless of their party affiliation
- filibuster
- debates tat under senate rules can drag on, blocking debate on a bill
- political action committees
- groups formed for the purpose of raising money to elect or defeat political candidates , They usually represent business, unions, or idealogical interests.
- delegates
- legislators who primarily see their role as voting according to their constituents beliefs as they understand them.
- pandemic
- an outbreak of a disease that spreads across a large geographic area.
- nonpartisan election
- elections in which candidates do not have to declare party affiliation or receive a party's nomination; often local or state
- metropolitan statistical area
- area with a city of 50 thousand or more people, together with adjacent urban communities that have strong ties to the central city.
- poverty line
- annual income level, set by the federal gov't, below which families cannot afford basic necessities.
- full faith and credit clause
- requires states to recognize each others public records and acts valid
- direct democracy
- means for citizens to make laws themselves rather than relaying on the elected representatives
- coalition building
- assembling of an alliance of groups to pursue a common goal or interest
- entitlement
- service that gov't must provide, regardless of cost.
- school vouchers
- movement dating to the 1950s to allow taxpayer dollars to be given to families to use at whatever public, private, or parochial schools they choose.
- school district
- local administrative jurisdictions that hire staff and report to school boards on management of area public schools
- rulemaking
- the process of translating laws into written instructions on what public agencies will or will not do.
- annexation
- the legal incorporation of one jurisdiction or territory into another.
- home rule
- form of self governance granted to towns and cities
- unitary
- political system in which power is concentrated in central gov't
- federalism
- political system which nat'l and regional gov't share powers and are considerd equals
- state board of education
- Top policymaking body in each of the fifty states, usually consisting of appointees selected by governors.
- blanket primary
- elections in which all voters may cast ballots for any candidate for any office regardless of party
- moralistic
- view of gov't as achieve collective good. citizens actively participate
- Voter turnout
- the percentage of eligible citizens who register to vote and do vote
- judicial federalism
- idea that the courts determine the boundaries of state federal relations
- runoff primary
- an election held if no candidate receives a majority of the vote during the regular primary. The two top finishers face off again to determine the nominee for the general election. Such elections are held in some states, primarily in the South.
- redistricting
- the drawing of new bounadraries for congressional and state legisaltive districts
- Aids to Families with Dependent Children
- The original federal assistance program for women and their children, started under Roosevelt's New Deal.
- constitutional amendments
- propsals to change the constitution, enacted by supermajoruty of legislature or through state referendum
- confederacy
- political system in which power is concentrated in in regional gov'ts
- recall
- an occasion for citizens to collect signatures and then vote on tte ouster of an incumbent politician prior to the next regularly scheduled election.
- closed primary
- nominating elections in which only voters belonging to that party may participate. Only registered Democrats can vote in a closed Democratic primary, for example.
- dealignment
- when no new party can be said to dominate politics in this country
- progressive taxes
- system in which the tax rate paid reflects the ability to pay.
- community policing
- approach that emphasizes relationships with neighborhoods and collaborative problem solving
- soft money
- money that is not subject to federal regulation that can be raised and spent for state parties. A 2002 law banned the use of this in federal elections.
- sprawl
- rapid growth of a metropolitan area, typically as a result of specific zoning and development
- variance
- diff. btw units of analysis on a particular measure
- professional model policing
- approach to policing that emphasizes relations with citizens, police independence , police in cars, and rapid responses to calls for services.
- enumerated
- grants of authority explicitly given by the constitution
- user fees
- charges levied by governments in exchange for services; a type of hidden tax.
- home schooling
- the education of children in the home; a movement to grant waivers from state truancy laws to permit parents to teach their own children
- trustees
- legislators who believe they were elected to exercise their own judgement
- professionalization
- bureaucratic employees earn their jobs based on qualifications and merit.
- interest groups
- individuals, corporations, or associates who seek to inluence the actions of elected and appointed public officials on behalf of specific companies or causes
- zoning laws
- regulations that control how land can be used
- No Child Left Behind Act
- Federal law enacted in January 2002 that introduced new accountability measures for elementary and secondary schools in all states that wish to receive federal aid.
- Straight Ticket
- Originally, ballots that allowed voters to pick all of party's candidates at once; today, is the practice of voting for all of one party's candidates for various offices - for instance, votng for all Democrats or all Republicans.