Local and State Government Duties - Essay Example

Legislation has to be drawn stipulating the amount of money or the extent of delivery the government will provide and for how long. This sorting out procedure will require the following of five stipulated principles some of which include the provision of funds to states with the lowest capacity to raise their revenue, considering the effects of fiscal responsibility, and provision of clear separation of responsibility between the state and local government (Foundation Fiscal Partners, 1999).

I was not aware that there is controversy over finances. I always assumed each state received its funding for basic projects such as education and health from the federal government and then they dealt exclusively with the delivery of the services. I also had no idea of the fact that these duties and responsibilities even though they intertwine have separation through the constitution. Smith, Greenblatt, and Mariani (2007) shed more light by use of the constitution of the roles which should be performed by the two regarding finances. The tenth amendment for example explains that the state carries out the most mandates regarding the running of the state and the federal government only comes in when it is mandated by the Constitution.

The main themes include the relationship between state and federal government and how the tenth amendment and the commerce act and even the Constitution itself have tried to differentiate the duties and responsibilities to no avail. There is also the separation of duties of the state and local government which are slightly intertwined. The other theme discussed in the reading by Smith, Greenblatt, and Mariani (2007) is the division of labor in the state and the roles of some of the people such as the governor. This also leads to the theme of the responsibilities that the state has towards the towns and counties.

The controversy between the powers and laws of federal and state government has left me opting for the federal government to leave the states to run their affairs as best as they can without interference from the federal government unless the governor of the state formally asks for the assistance of the federal government. This political leaning on my side is brought about by the culmination of the various readings and discussions with several examples put forward of the controversies and how they have not only brought confusion to the judges and other authorities responsible but also to the victims and perpetrators as well. An example is the gun-free act by the federal government and the gun control act of the Texas state which seemingly clash and hence lead to delayed justice (Legal Information Institute, 2013).