State Supremacy, Local Sovereignty, Essay Example

In his review. Rodriguez (1994) argues that state supremacy does not serve the interest of local citizens. He recommends that the Constitution of California should be revised in order to increase local power, and allow decision-makers to serve the residents of the municipality better. First, the author argues that augmentation of local power would empower local creativity and create a healthy competition, making the economy of the entire state perform better. Secondly. By providing more sovereignty to local governments, they would have better control over finances, and make decisions that are more relevant to the interest of the local community than it can be on a state level. By expanding the home rule (that is the main argument of Rodriguez), the protection of local individual rights would be greater.

In order to complete the above described shift, it is important that Article XI is amended to clarify the definition of “municipal” affairs. The protection of land use and zoning power should be also expanded, in order to prevent court decisions that allow states to intervene. Another recommendation of the author (Rodriguez, 1994, p. 426) is that a supermajority requirement is added to the local initiatives, so that the interest of local citizens and voters is better represented. By guaranteeing state voters the right to “enact preemptive tax measures” (Rodriguez, 1994, p. 426), for example, would benefit all citizens of the state. On the other hand, the author also suggests that preventive measures are put in place for identifying municipal affairs: the suggested criterion are: if there is a conflict with the local law, and the affair is not exclusively municipal, and if the local legislation is “triggering the substantive protection of local sovereignty”.

References

Rodriguez, D. (1994) State supremacy, local sovereignty: Reconstructing State/Local relations under the California Constitution. In Constitutional Reform in California, ed. Cain, Bruce E., and Roger G. Noll. Berkeley: Institute for Governmental Studies.