A nice example of a Federal legislative initiative giving states the right to establish innovative voting systems. It was offered in 1999.… Read More
Proportional representation is a system for electing legislatures. In elections for a single, executive position, the winner-take-all principle still applies. However, Australian-style instant runoff voting...
As Greg LeRoy (GoodJobsFirst)points out, “As states grapple with their worst deficits in more than half a century, policymakers seek better data to help with...
On October 25, 1999 the Bangor ME (population 33,000) City Council passed a selective purchasing policy, establishing guidelines for buying clothing, footwear and other products...
The state of Illinois had a semi-proportional voting system to elect the lower House from 1870 to 1980. This was a minor modification of the...
Cambridge’s nine City Councillors and six School Committee members are elected at large by Proportional Representation (PR) for a two year term. Any partly or...
In Amarillo, Texas, which is is 16 percent Latino and 6 percent black, a minority had not been elected to the school board since the...
Fed up with repeated state preemption of local laws, Michigan cities have spearheaded a campaign to require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature, rather than...
After a particularly serious chlorine dioxide leak, which could have injured thousands of workers had they been in the factory, the town selectmen instructed the...
In May 1998, President Clinton issued Executive Order 13083 on Federalism. Its centralizing language generated such a firestorm of opposition from conservatives and state and...
Idaho was the first state to mandate in-state processing for logs harvested from state forests. Since becoming a state in 1890, Idaho has required all...
On occasion, governments at the local, state and federal level make purchasing policies that take factors besides price into consideration. For instance, some state and...
The New England town meeting and school district meeting are the only direct democracy institutions in the United States involving lawmaking by assembled voters. Law...
What level of government should exercise what kinds of authority? That question has been vigorously debated throughout U.S. history. Indeed, the U.S. Constitution itself represented...
Texas has created a Unified Development Budget — an annual statement to the legislature with all forms of spending itemized in one place. All tax...