1. State and Local Government
Chapter 19

2. State Government Missouri Constitution Article I – Bill of Rights
Article II - The Distribution of Powers
Article III - Legislative Department
Article IV - Executive Department
Article V - Judicial Department
Article VI - Local Government
Article VII - Public Officers
Article VIII - Suffrage and Elections
Article IX - Education
Article X - Taxation
Article XI - Corporations
Article XII - Amending the Constitution
Article XIII - Public Employees

3. State Government State Constitutional Convention
A state convention convened to amend the state constitution or draft a new one.

4. State Government Constitutional Initiative
The process by which a citizen or group can petition to place a proposed amendment on the ballot at the next election by obtaining the signatures of a certain number of registered voters. At that election, it becomes part of the Constitution if it gets majority support.

5. Branches of State Government
Executive
Legislative
Judicial

6. State Government Examples of Direct Democracy in the States Initiative
Process by which citizens can place legislative measures on the ballot through signature petitions
Referendum
Process by which the state legislature may submit proposals to the citizens for approval or rejection.
Recall
The process by which citizens can call for the removal from office of an elected official.

7. Local Governments Dillon’s Rule
Principle articulated in a court ruling that local governments do not have any inherent sovereignty but instead must be authorized by a State Government

8. Local Governments Charter
A document that, like a Constitution, specifics the basic policies, procedures and institutions of a local government.
Chief instrument by which a state governs its local units
No local government can exist without a charter.

9. Local Governments Home Rule
Device designed to give local governments more leeway in their polices, it allows a local government to design and amend its own charter, subject to the laws and constitution of the state, and subject to veto by the state.
First tried in Missouri, based on Cooley’s Rule

10. Local Governments Cooley’s Rule
Idea that cities should be self-governing, as articulated by Michigan judge Thomas Cooley in 1871.
Practical solution to the inability of states to oversee the everyday decisions of their local governments.

11. Local Governments Ordinances
Laws issued by a local government under authority granted by the state government through a charter.

12. Local Governments Strong Mayor-Council System
Consists of the mayor as chief executive and the local council as the legislative body, in which the mayor has veto power and a prescribed responsibility for budgetary and other policy actions.
Most common form.

13. Local Governments Weak Mayor-Council System
The form of municipal government in which the mayor’s policymaking powers are less substantial than the city council’s. The mayor has no power to veto the council’s actions and often has no formal role in activities such as budget making.

14. Local Governments Commission System
The form of municipal government that invests executive and legislative authority in a commission, with each commissioner serving as a member of the local council but also having a specified executive role, such as police commissioner or public works commissioner.

15. Local Governments City Manager System
The form of municipal government that entrusts the executive role to a professionally trained manager, who is chosen, and can be fired, by the city council.

16. Local Governments Metropolitan Government
Form of local government created when local governments join together and assign it responsibility for a range of activities, such as sanitation, so as to reduce the waste and duplication that result when every locality in a densely populated area provides its own services.