Chapter 1: New Directions for State and Local GovernmentChapter 2: Federalism and the StatesChapter 3: State ConstitutionsChapter 4: Citizen Participation and ElectionsChapter 5: Political Parties, Interest Groups, and CampaignsChapter 6: State LegislaturesChapter 7: GovernorsChapter 8: Public Administration: Budgeting and Service DeliveryChapter 9: The JudiciaryChapter 10: The Structure of Local GovernmentChapter 11: Local Leadership and GovernanceChapter 12: State-Local RelationsChapter 13: State and Local FinanceChapter 14: Economic DevelopmentChapter 15: Education PolicyChapter 16: Criminal JusticeChapter 17: Social Welfare and Health Care PolicyChapter 18: Environmental PolicyChapter 1: New Directions for State and Local GovernmentA web site that offers a wealth of policy information about the states, along with links to multistate organizations, national organizations of state officials, and state-based think tanks is http://www.stateline.org/, established by the Pew Center on the States.
The web site of Governing magazine, http://www.governing.com/, contains up-to-date, in-depth discussions of issues in states and localities.
At http://www.census.gov/, the web site of the U.S. Bureau of the Census, you can find historical, demographic data on states and localities.
A comprehensive web site that will take you to the official web sites of states and local governments is http://www.firstgov.com.
TopChapter 2: Federalism and the StatesExamples of unfunded mandates are found on a Heritage Foundation web page at http://www.regulation.org/states.html.
Federalism decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court may be reviewed at The Council of State Governments’ web site at http://www.statesnews.org/. This site also includes other items related to federalism.
For current information on relationships among the three levels of government, see http://governing.com.
http://www.census.gov/ has comparative data on the states and localities, particularly state and local finances.
TopChapter 3: State ConstitutionsFor full texts of state statutes and constitutions see individual state web sites (for example, http://www.state.fl.us/).
Most state constitutions can also be accessed through Findlaw at http://www.findlaw.com/11stategov/indexconst.html, http://www.law.cornell.edu/ statutes, or http://www.constitutions.org.
The Alaska constitution draws heavily on the Model State Constitution. It is located in the State of Alaska Documents Library at http://www.law.state.ak.us/.
For everything you want to know about Unicam in Nebraska, go to http://www.unicam.state.ne.us/.
Another good site is the Center for State Constitutional Studies at
http://www.camlaw.rutgers.edu/statecon/.
TopChapter 4: Citizen Participation and ElectionsThe web site of the Federal Election Commission, http://www.fec.gov/, contains information about U.S. elections, including laws, voter turnout, and results.
The League of Women Voters, a well-respected organization that encourages informed and active participation of citizens in government, maintains a web site at http://www.lwv.org/.
A nonpartisan, nonadvocacy web site providing up-to-the-minute news and analysis on election reform can be found at http://www.electionline.org/.
The organization found at http://www.americaspromise.org/ encourages volunteers to create “communities of promise” in their home towns.
An interactive site that allows users to vote yes or no on current hot-button issues is http://www.vote.org/. For example, before the 2004 election, the site polled e-public opinion on this question: “Should the U.S.A. Patriot Act be renewed before parts of the law expire in 2005?” The site is maintained by a former aide to President Clinton and a former public interest lobbyist.
You can find just about anything you want to know about ballot measures at http://www.iandrinstitute.org/ and http://www.ballot.org/.
TopChapter 5: Political Parties, Interest Groups, and CampaignsThe major political parties have official web sites: http://www.democrats.org/ and http://www.rnc.org/.
At the state level, illustrative web sites are Hawaii’s at http://www.hawaiidemocrats.org/ and Ohio’s at http://www.ohiogop.org/.
An interesting state-level, third-party web site, http://www.cagreens.org/, is the site for the Green party of California.
Common Cause has a web site, http://www.commoncause.org/states, that tracks the activities of its thirty-six state offices and the progress of campaign finance reform.
Another group devoted to cleaning up elections is Public Campaign. Their web site is http://www.publicampaign.org/.
Different perspectives are reflected in the web sites of the American Civil Liberties Union, http://www.aclu.org/, and the Christian Coalition, http://www.cc.org/.
http://www.flchamber.com/ and http://www.ilchamber.org/ are the web sites for the chambers of commerce for Florida and Illinois, respectively. Other state chambers use similar URLs.
The Texas State Teachers’ Association at http://www.tsta.org/ is an example of a state school teachers organization. A different but related perspective is provided by the Oregon Congress of Parents and Teachers Associations at http://www.oregonpta.org/.
Other examples of state-level interest groups include The West Virginia Association of Realtors at http://www.wvrealtors.com/ and the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association at http://www.azhha.org/.
TopChapter 6: State LegislaturesTo find out what’s up in state legislatures, visit the web site of the National Conference of State Legislatures at http://www.ncsl.org/.
Most states have web sites that allow citizens to follow the progress of legislation during the session. See, for example, the legislative sites for Iowa and West Virginia at http://www.legis.state.ia.us/ and http://www.legis.state.wv.us/, respectively.
The web site, http://www.vote-smart.org/, tracks the performance of political leaders, including state legislators.
To learn about model state laws, see the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws at http://www.nccusl.org/.
An advocacy web site, http://www.termlimits.org/, provides up-to-date coverage of the term-limits issue.
A watchdog organization that scrutinizes and regularly criticizes government, including state legislatures, maintains a web site at http://www.publicintegrity.org/.
TopChapter 7: GovernorsThe governors have their own web sites in each state, which can be located through the state home page or from links at http://www.nga.org/. The NGA’s web page features, among other items, governors’ biographies, the latest State of the State addresses, and a subject index on various state and local issues, including welfare reform.
For information about western governors, see http://www.westgov.org/.
TopChapter 8: Public Administration: Budgeting and Service DeliveryMost major municipalities and all states have web pages. Many provide links to jobs, reinventing government initiatives, service-provision information, and other data. For careers in state and local government, see individual state, county, and municipal human resource management web sites. Also see http://www.govtjob.net/.
Innovative, award-winning web sites are Indianapolis’s “Electronic City Hall” at http://www.indygov.org/, Service Arizona at http://www.servicearizona.ihost.com/, NC@YourService at http://www.ncgov.com/, and AccessWashington at http://www.access.wa.gov/.
An Internet-based clearinghouse on GIS is maintained by the Center for Technology in Government at http://www.ctg.albany.edu/gisny.html. Another interesting site on technology and government is located at http://www.govtech.net/.
An informative public-employee union web site is AFSCME’s at http://www.afscme.org/.
For publications and information on public-private partnerships, see http://www.ncppp.org/.
For a step-by-step illustration of a state budget process, see http://www.state.ny.us/dob/citizen/process/ process.html.
You can play a budget simulation for New York City at http://www.gothamgazette.com/budgetgame/budgetgame.html.
To view streaming videos of public meetings in Indiana, visit http://www.stream.hoosier.net/cats.
The National Center for Productivity offers research, cases, and a course on government performance at http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~ncpp/curriculum.
Information on the Government Performance Project is found at http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/campbell/gpp.html.
TopChapter 9: The JudiciaryThe National Center for State Courts (NCSC) maintains a list of courts and their web addresses. NCSC’s web site at http://www.ncsc.dni.us/ is a rich source of information on the courts. State court decisions may also be accessed at the NCSC web site.
Interesting state sites include the following: California at http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/, Florida at http://www.flcourts.org/, and Alaska at http://www.alaska.net/~akctlib/homepage.htm.
The American Bar Association’s web site at http://www.abanet.org/ provides an analysis of current controversial cases and other legal information.
The Law Forum Legal Resources site at http://www.lawforum.net/ has links to all on-line state and local courts.
For a detailed examination of all states’ judicial selection systems, see http://www.ajs.org/select11.html.
To watch live performances of Florida’ Ninth Judicial Circuit Court, see http://www.dascom-systems.com/Iowa Supreme Court.htm.
TopChapter 10: The Structure of Local GovernmentMost of the five types of government are represented by national associations, which have web sites: http://www.naco.org/ (National Association of Counties); http://www.nlc.org/ (National League of Cities); http://www.natat.org/ (National Association of Towns and Townships); http://www.nsba.org/ (for school districts, the relevant web site is that of the National School Boards Association).
To explore a specific school district, see http://www.philsch.k12.pa.us/ (the website of the City of Philadelphia school district).
Special districts, by virtue of their specialized nature, tend to have function-specific national organizations. For example, the National Association of Conservation Districts can be found at http://www.nacdnet.org/. A fifteen-county district, the Colorado River Water Conservation District, whose web site can be found at http://www.crwcd.gov/, is an example of an individual special district. The web site of one of the most famous special districts, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is http://www.panynj.gov/.
Over time, cities and counties have found that maintaining web sites is a good way to connect with the public. See the web site for consolidated Miami-Dade County at http://www.miamidade.gov/. The web site for the city of Los Angeles can be found at http://www.ci.la.ca.us/; the web site for the county can be found at http://lacounty.info/. The web site for the largest county in Michigan is http://www.waynecounty.com/. You can find information about the Big Apple at http://www.nyc.gov/; http://www.cityofhouston.gov/ and http://www.cityofboston.gov/ are web sites for the cities of Houston and Boston, respectively.
TopChapter 11: Local Leadership and GovernanceThe association of mayors of cities with populations of 30,000, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, has a web site at http://www.usmayors.org/.
Mayors in a single state frequently belong to a statewide organization such as http://www.njmayornet.com/in New Jersey.
Specialized constituency groups often have their own organizations and web sites, as does the National Conference of Black Mayors at http://www.blackmayors.org/.
The web site for the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, http://www.rutger.cawp.edu/, contains a wealth of data on women and politics.
Information about the city and county management profession can be found at the International City/County Management Association’s web site: http://www.icma.org/.
TopChapter 12: State-Local RelationsThe National Association of Regional Councils maintains a web site at http://www.narc.org/. It shows the differences and similarities of regional councils across the country.
The Association of Bay Area Governments’ award-winning site can be found at http://www.abag.ca.gov/.
The web site for the regional planning agency that deals with 184 cities and six counties in Southern California is http://www.scag.ca.gov/.
For information on the activities of a state-level ACIR, see the Virginia ACIR at http://www.acir.state.va.us/.
The Urban Institute’s site for research on economic and social policy can be found at http://www.urban.org/. It is a useful source of information on states and localities.
The Sierra Club presents its case against urban sprawl at http://www.sierraclub.org/sprawl.
To learn more about new urbanism, see http://www.cnu.org/, the web site for the Congress of the New Urbanism.
Texas Rural Partners Inc., a rural development council, has a web site at http://www.trdc.org/. Other states with rural development councils maintain web sites also.
TopChapter 13: State and Local FinanceThe National Conference of State Legislatures’ Principles of a High Quality Tax System are available for viewing at http://www.ncsl.org/.
To check on the fiscal status of New York City, see its Tax Page at http://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us/.
One of the best individual sites on state tax and budget information is that of the Texas State Comptroller at http://www.window.state.tx.us/.
For current reports in developments, trends, and policy changes in state government finances, see the web site of the Center for the Study of the States at SUNY–Albany, http://stateandlocalgateway.rockinst.org/.
Comparative state and local revenue, tax, and expenditure data may be found at the U.S. Census Bureau’s web site (http://www.census.gov/) and at the Tax Foundation’s web site (http://www.taxfoundation.org/).
See http://www.taxsites.com/ for general tax resources and official state tax sites.
TopChapter 14: Economic DevelopmentThe web site for the National Association of State Development Agencies at http://www.nasda.com/ provides up-to-date information on state activities and links to state agencies.
Two economic development organizations, one with a national focus, the other with an international emphasis, maintain useful websites. These are the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CfED) at http://www.cfed.org/ and the International Economic Development Council at http://www.iedconline.org/.
All states have a web presence in economic development, typically through a state agency. The comprehensive web site of Arizona’s Department of Commerce can be found at http://www.azcommerce.com/.
Explore a more targeted approach to economic development at http://www.idahoworks.com/, which is a part of Idaho’s Department of Commerce web site.
Other examples of states with less traditional economic development web sites are the state of Kentucky’s new economy web site at http://www.one-ky.com/ and Enterprise Florida at http://www.eflorida.com/.
A statewide organization devoted to local economic development is the California Association for Local Economic Development, http://www.caled.org/.
http://www.newyorkbiz.com/ is the web site for the New York City Economic Development Corporation.
For economic development from a private sector perspective, check out the web site of Site Selection magazine at http://www.siteselection.com/. It tracks new business activity around the nation.
TopChapter 15: Education PolicyFor the National Report Card on state school systems, see http://www.edweek.org/. This site may also be used to access informative articles on school reform in Education Week.
School-finance data are available from the National Center for Education Statistics at http://www.nces.ed.gov/ and on the U.S. Department of Education’s web site at http://www.ed.gov/.
State education agencies may be explored at http://www.csso.org/, home for the Council of Chief State School Officers.
One of the best places to go for education-policy information and trends is the web site of the Education Commission of the States at http://www.ecs.org/.
Teacher-salary data and education-policy analysis may be found on the American Federation of Teachers’ web site at http://www.aft.org/ and at http://www.nea.org/, the web site of the National Education Association.
Check out the Governance and Finance Institute web site for information on policy research, including charter schools, at http://www.ed.gov/offices/OERI/GFI/index.html.
TopChapter 16: Criminal JusticeHundreds of law enforcement and corrections-related sites appear on the World Wide Web. A few of the more interesting include the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) homepage at http://www.fbi.gov/ and the Police Guide at http://www.policeguide.com/.
For community policing, see the Office of Community Oriented Policing (COPS) at http://www.usdoj.gov/cops.
Links to most major criminal justice policy issues are available at http://www.corrections.com/.
Statistics on prison privatization can be found at http://www.crim.ufl.edu/pcp.
http://www.sentencingproject.org/ is a nonprofit organization that promotes alternatives to prison.
For corrections and sentencing data, and other valuable information, see http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ and http://www.ncjrs.org/. Another general source is the web address of the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data at http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/NACJD.
TopChapter 17: Social Welfare and Health Care PolicyThe Joint Center for Poverty Research focuses on the causes of poverty and the effectiveness of policies aimed at reducing it. Their web site is located at http://www.jcpr.org/.
For information on health care, see the Health Care Financing Administration’s web site at http://www.hcfa.gov/.
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), is responsible for federal programs that promote economic and social well-being. Information about their programs can be obtained from their web site at http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/.
Families USA is a nonprofit organization that works at the national, state, and local levels to achieve high-quality, affordable health care and long-term care for all Americans. Their web site, http://www.familiesusa.org/, serves as a clearinghouse for information about the health care system.
For information on children’s issues, see the Children’s Defense Fund at http://www.childrensdefense.org/.
For general information and links on welfare programs and initiatives, see http://www.welfareinfo.org.
TopChapter 18: Environmental PolicyThe official web site of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is http://www.epa.gov/. It is packed with information about the EPA’s programs and initiatives.
The official web site of the Department of the Interior is http://www.doi.gov/. It contains a wealth of information about the various activities of the agency.
All states have agencies devoted to environmental protection and natural resource conservation. See, for example, Oregon at http://www.deq.state.or.us/ and Ohio at http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/.
A good place to track environmental protection policies, laws, and regulations is at http://enviro2.blr.com. This site is maintained by Business and Legal Reports, a firm that advertises itself as “making state environmental compliance easier.”
For more information about environmental issues, contact the Sierra Club at http://www.sierraclub.org/, the National Wildlife Federation at http://www.nwf.org/, the Nature Conservancy at http://www.nature.org/, and the Grassroots Recycling Network at http://www.grn.org/.
To learn about the impact of pollution on the public, explore the web site of the Environmental Justice Foundation at http://www.ejfoundation.org/.
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