Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-20T05:24:14.978Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Salience, complexity and state resistance to federal mandates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2015

Steven J. Balla  and
Christopher J. Deering
Steven J. Balla
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, The George Washington University, USA E-mail: sballa@gwu.edu
Christopher J. Deering
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, The George Washington University, USA E-mail: rocket@gwu.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Although state resistance to federal mandates is a prevalent characteristic of contemporary American federalism, little is known about the factors that separate resisting states from states that do not oppose federal policy. This article examines state resistance through a framework that classifies public policies by salience and complexity and identifies societal interests and government officials who are hypothesised to influence policy making on issues of varying types. These hypotheses are investigated in the context of state resistance to four federal laws – the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, No Child Left Behind Act, Help America Vote Act and REAL ID Act. The results of the statistical analysis demonstrate the centrality of the characteristics of citizens, elected officials and specialised interest groups in conditioning state resistance to federal mandates. These results suggest that state resistance can be characterised as a strategic response to federal mandates that varies systematically across types of public policies.

Keywords

complexityfederalismpolicy typologysaliencestate resistance
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 35 , Issue 3 , December 2015 , pp. 459 - 476
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press, 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aldrich, J. H. and Nelson, F. D. (1984) Linear Probability, Logit, and Probit Models. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Associated Press (2013) Alabama Lawmakers Vote to Ignore New Federal Gun Control Laws, 1 May, http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/01/alabama-lawmakers-vote-to ignore-new-federal-gun-control-laws/ (accessed 23 January 2015).Google Scholar
Berry, W. D., Ringquist, E. J., Fording, R. C. and Hanson, R. L. (1998) Measuring Citizen and Government Ideology in the American States, 1960–93. American Journal of Political Science 42(1): 327–348.Google Scholar
Berry, W. D., Fording, R. C., Ringquist, E. J., Hanson, R. L. and Klarne, C. E. (2010) Measuring Citizen and Government Ideology in the American States: A Re-appraisal. State Politics and Policy Quarterly 10(2): 117–135.Google Scholar
Blalock, H. M. Jr. (1979) Social Statistics, 2nd ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Box-Steffensmeier, J. M. and Jones, B. S. (2004) Event History Modeling. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Derthick, M. (2001) Keeping the Compound Republic: Essays on American Federalism. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Dillon, S. (2009) “No Child” Law is Not Closing a Racial Gap. New York Times, 28 April, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/education/29scores.html (accessed 23 January 2015), page A1.Google Scholar
Dinan, J. (2008) The State of American Federalism 2007–2008: Resurgent State Influence in the National Policy Process and Continued State Policy Innovation. Publius 38(3): 381–415.Google Scholar
Eshbaugh-Soha, M. (2006) The Conditioning Effects of Policy Salience and Complexity on American Political Institutions. Policy Studies Journal 34(2): 223–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerber, B. J. and Teske, P. (2000) Regulatory Policymaking in the American States: A Review of Theories and Evidence. Political Research Quarterly 53(4): 849–886.Google Scholar
Gormley, W. T. Jr. (1986) Issue Networks in a Federal System. Polity 18(4): 595–620.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gormley, W. T. Jr. (2006) Money and Mandates: The Politics of Intergovernmental Conflict. Publius 36(4): 523–540.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, V. and Lowery, D. (1996) The Population Ecology of Interest Representation: Lobbying Communities in the American States. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Gruber, J. (2011) The Impacts of the Affordable Care Act: How Reasonable are the Projections? National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA, June. http://economics.mit.edu/files/6829 (accessed 23 January 2015).Google Scholar
Hall, R. L. and Grofman, B. (1990) The Committee Assignment Process and the Conditional Nature of Committee Bias. American Political Science Review 84(4): 1149–1166.Google Scholar
Homeland Security New Wire (2013) More States Commit to Compliance with REAL ID, 15 March, http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20130315-more-state-commit-to-compliance-with-real-id (accessed 23 January 2015).Google Scholar
Julnes, G. and Mohr, L. B. (1989) Analysis of No-Difference Findings in Evaluation Research. Evaluation Review 13(6): 628–655.Google Scholar
Kaiser Family Foundation (2012) Summary of Coverage Provisions in the Affordable Care Act, http://kaiserfamilyfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/8023-r.pdf (accessed 23 January 2015).Google Scholar
Kincaid, J. (1990) From Cooperative to Coercive Federalism. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 509: 139–152.Google Scholar
King, G. and Zeng, L. (2001) Logistic Regression in Rare Events Data. Political Analysis 9(2): 137–163.Google Scholar
Krane, D. (2007) The Middle Tier in American Federalism: State Government Policy Activism During the Bush Presidency. Publius 37(3): 453–477.Google Scholar
Lowi, T. J. (1964) American Business, Public Policy, Case-Studies, and Political Theory. World Politics 16(4): 677–715.Google Scholar
Meier, K. J. and McFarlane, D. R. (1993) The Politics of Funding Abortion: State Responses to the Political Environment. American Politics Quarterly 21(1): 81–101.Google Scholar
Metzger, G. E. (2011) Federalism Under Obama. William and Mary Law Review 53(2): 567–619.Google Scholar
National Conference of State Legislatures (2005) REAL ID Act of 2005 Driver’s License Title Summary, http://www.realnightmare.org/images/File/NCSL_Summary_of_Real_ID.pdf (accessed 25 January 2015).Google Scholar
Negrin, M. and De Vogue, A. (2012) Supreme Court Health Care Ruling: The Mandate Can Stay. ABC News, 28 June, http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/supreme-court-announces-decision-obamas-health-care-law/story?id=16663839#.UZzSSdjDujR (accessed 23 January 2015).Google Scholar
Nicholson-Crotty, S. (2009) The Politics of Diffusion: Public Policy in the American States. Journal of Politics 71(1): 192–205.Google Scholar
Office of the Secretary of State, Georgia (2007) Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail: Pilot Project Report, April, http://sos.georgia.gov/elections/VVPATreport.pdf (accessed 31 May 2013).Google Scholar
Palazzolo, D., Moscardelli, V. G., Patrick, M. and Rubin, D. (2008) Election Reform After HAVA: Voter Verification in Congress and the States. Publius 38(3): 515–537.Google Scholar
Posner, P. L. (2007) The Politics of Coercive Federalism in the Bush Era. Publius 37(3): 390–413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Regan, P. M. and Deering, C. J. (2009) State Opposition to REAL ID. Publius 39(3): 476–505.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ringquist, E. A., Worsham, J. and Eisner, M. A. (2003) Salience, Complexity, and the Legislative Direction of Regulatory Bureaucracies. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 13(2): 141–164.Google Scholar
Shelly, B. (2008) Rebels and Their Causes: State Resistance to No Child Left Behind. Publius 38(3): 444–468.Google Scholar
Simon, R. (2013) Moves Afoot in Some States to Dodge New Federal Gun Laws. Washington Post, 18 February, http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-34276788.html (accessed 23 January 23 2015), page A17.Google Scholar
Squire, P. (2007) Measuring State Legislative Professionalism: The Squire Index Revisited. State Politics and Policy Quarterly 7(2): 211–227.Google Scholar
Stolberg, S. G. and Pear, R. (2010) Obama Signs Health Care Overhaul Bill, with a Flourish. New York Times, 23 March, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/health/policy/24health.html (accessed 23 January 2015), page A19.Google Scholar
Zelizer, J. (2013) Health Care will be an Obama Legacy. 4 March, http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/04/opinion/zelizer-health-care (accessed 23 January 2015).Google Scholar