Courts

continuity of retirement credits for employees who transfer between units of government within a State. Employee benefits should be vested after completion of no more than five years in the system and employees should be permitted a deferred annuity. (Report A-16, 1963)

THE JUDICIAL BRANCH (see also Law Enforcement)

States should establish simplified, unified court systems consisting of a supreme court, intermediate courts of appeal, general trial courts and special subdivisions of general trail courts performing duties of courts of limited jurisdiction; should abolish the office of justice-of-peace or substantially overhaul it. (Report A-38, 1971)

The State Supreme Court should provide overall supervision for the court system, using uniform rules of practice and procedure; all States should provide for an administrative office of the State courts, headed by professional administrators; and should encourage establishment of administrative offices for general trial courts of large urban areas. (Report A-38, 1971)

States should assume full responsibility for financing State and local courts. (Report A-38, 1971)

State-Federal Judicial Councils should be established to explore problems of joint concern, including review of post conviction petitions. (Report A-38, 1971)

Judges

States and local governments should use the Missouri "Merit Plan" to select judges; States should establish California-type Commissions on Judicial Qualifications for their discipline and removal; and States and localities should require judges to retire at age 70. (Report A-38, 1971)

States should require all judges to be licensed to practice law in the State and devote full time to their judicial duties. (Report A-38, 1971)

Assignment of judges should be flexible to make maximum use of their time. (Report A-38, 1971)

MULTI-STATE REGIONALISM

Federal-multistate regional instrumentalities created pursuant to the Appalachian Regional Development Act, Title V of the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965, Title II of the Water Resources Planning Act of 1965 and the Delaware and Susquehanna River Basin Compacts should be retained pending further experience and study. (Report A-39, 1972) The States should continue to initiate and Congress consent to interstate compacts. In the drafting stages of new compacts, States should consider expanding their scope to avoid proliferation. (Report A-39, 1972)

'Hearnes dissents; Muskie concurs in separate statement.

The Federal government, the States and localities should agree on boundaries of interstate metropolitan areas and establish a single umbrella multi-jurisdictional organization in each one. (Report A-43, 1973)

Congress should give advance approval to compacts creating interstate planning agencies. (Report A-5, 1961)

Financial Emergencies

FEDERAL-LOCAL RELATIONS

The Federal government should act in local financial emergencies that include interstate considerations requiring the use of the Federal Bankruptcy Laws, which should be updated and clarified to: define "creditor" to specify the classes of creditors within the scope of the statute; permit involuntary filings under certain specified conditions; and require continuous supervision of a local governments' compliance with the final court ruling. (Report A-42, 1973)

STATE-LOCAL RELATIONS (see also Subject Heads)

State ACIR

States should provide for a broadly representative permanent Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations to study and report on the current pattern of local government structure; the powers and functions of local governments and substate regional bodies; intergovernmental relations in the State; allocation of State-local fiscal resources; role of the State as the creator of local government and substate regional systems; special problems in interstate areas. (Report A-44, 1974)

Federal Role

The Federal government should adopt policies which accommodate State and local actions to reorganize governments at the substate regional and local levels. (Report A-44, 1974)

Assignment of Functions

States should establish an on-going policy for a more reasoned and systematic assignment of functions between and among State, local and areawide units of government. It should authorize the State Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, or similar agency, to: formulate general criteria for assigning new public services and reassigning established or expanded ones; develop specific functional classification standards for determining the State, areawide or local nature of a function; prepare an intergovernmental impact statement concerning any State or locally developed assignment or Federal proposal affecting State or local delivery systems; recommend appropriate action for the assignment of new functions or reassignment of established or expanded functions. The Federal Government should recognize these

Ribicoff no position.

assignments for all Federal aid. OMB should modify A-95 to take into account intergovernmental impact statements pursuant to assignment or reassignment of functions within a State. (Report A-45, 1974)

States should establish a comprehensive local government structure and functions policy that:

(a) sets specific standards for assessing the structural functional, fiscal and geographic viability of all existing and proposed local governments; and for governing the orderly and equitable extension of municipal boundaries to embrace unincorporated territory;

(b) establish a broadly representative local government boundary commission at the State and/or local level with powers to: order the dissolution or consolidation of local units within metropolitan areas; amend joint use of inter-local contracts if they promote fractionalization of the tax base without overriding compensation; and amend State aid formulas to eliminate or reduce allotments to some nonviable units." (Report A-31, 1967) And, in addition, to oversee implementation of statutory standards; recommend modification of substate district boundaries or individual county boundaries; monitor and facilitate municipal annexations of adjacent unincorporated areas; develop "spheres of influence" or "staged expansion limits" that delimit ultimate boundaries of existing municipalities. (Report A-44, 1947) (Incorporates and modifies (Reports A-–5, 1961; A-11, 1962; –12, 1962)

State legislation should set specific criteria for political and economic viability of all local governments, general units and special districts, including factors of fiscal capacity, economic mix, minimum geographic and population size. (Report A-34, 1969)

Data facilities should be established to measure the comparative performance levels of individual local units of government in the major urban functions. (Report A-31, 1967)

Community Affairs

States should establish a specific agency for community and urban affairs. (Report A-5, 1961)

Congress should amend Title IX of PL 89-754, Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act of 1966, to remove the population ceiling on local government served by State information centers. (Report A-31, 1967)

Financial Emergencies

States should designate or establish a single state agency responsible for improvement of local financial management functions and charged with the early detection of financial problems to

Rockefeller and Rhodes dissent.

prevent crises. State laws should regulate local short-term operating debt; should regulate locally administered retirement systems, or consolidate them into a single State-administered system; and should establish guidelines to determine when local financial conditions necessitate State intervention and set forth procedures for carrying out remedial action. (Report A-42, 1973)

SUBSTATE REGIONALISM (see also Special Districts)

The Federal government should enunciate a comprehensive policy for all Federal grant programs with substate regional planning, administrative and districting components. The policy should, at a minimum:

(a) rely on official umbrella multi-jurisdictional organizations (UMJOS) for all Federal grants with an areawide component (OMB to designate the body if other methods fail), 10

(b) encourage all States to adopt a substate districting system;

(c) enact legislation that consolidates all areawide planning requirements to make use of UMJOS, focus on substate districts and link comprehensive and functional planning;

(d) enact a consolidated aid program for UMJOS with bonus for States that buy into it;

(e) amend the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act of 1968 to name UMJOs the A-95 review agency and to require that all major capital facilities projects with an areawise impact be consistent with UMJO plans." (Report A-43, 1973)

States should enact a consistent policy for substate districting which should:12

(a) establish a formal procedure for delineating substate

regional boundaries, which involves the participation of general purpose local governments. The governor should designate a single umbrella multi-jurisdictional organization (UMJO) in each region;

(b) require all State agencies to use the officially designated UMJO when substate regions are called for;

(c) provide for a membership formula requiring that all local units in the region belong to the UMJO, that at least 60 percent of the membership be elected local officials and that the State have some representation on the body;

(d) establish a dual voting formula applying the one-government, one-vote principle in most matters, but permitting any local constituent jurisdiction to bring

10 Evans dissents on bracketed portion.

11 Evans dissents in part.

11 Weinberger abstained.

about a proportionate or population-weighted voting procedure on certain issues;

(e) authorize each UMJO to: adopt and publish regional plans and a program for their implementation; make systematic inputs into State planning and budgeting; act as the A-95 clearinghouse; review and resolve inconsistencies between adopted regional policies and proposed major intra-regional State capital facilities projects to be undertaken within the district and bebetween regional policies and major locally-funded capital facility projects having an areawide impact; exert a policy-controlling role over the operations of special districts and authorities with multi-jurisdictional impact within the area; and promote mutual problem solving by serving as the administrator of inter-local contracts;

(f) authorize the UMJO to assume operating responsibility subject to approval of a majority of member units of general local government representing at least 60 percent of the area's population;13

(g) provide for ongoing financial assistance to UMJOs; and (h) authorize the governor to veto actions of an UMJO which conflict with officially adopted State plans or those of another UMJO. (Report A-43, 1973)

Cities and counties should support the establishment of umbrella multi-jurisdictional organizations and participate in their activities; provide financial contributions; use UMJOS in interlocal contracting; use UMJO plans as a guideline in local planning; and require their representatives on the boards of any multijurisdictional special district or authority to seek designation of the UMJO as the policy board of such district or authority. (Report A-43, 1973)

If a State fails to develop a comprehensive substate regional policy but a majority of counties and cities accounting for a majority of the population within a substate region petition for the establishment of an umbrella multi-jurisdictional organization, with the approval of the governor, Congress and the President such organization should be treated as an UMJO by the Federal government. (Report A-43, 1973)

States should permit, subject to referendum, the establishment of governmental units capable of providing areawide services, including multi-county consolidation; city-county consolidation; the modernized county; conversion of an UMJO to a general purpose government; the right to create a regional service operation subsuming all existing and proposed areawide special districts. Regional home rule referenda could be initiated by: resolution of one or more units of general local government; petition; direct action by the State legislature. (Report A-44, 1974)

1 Sen. Brown, Kurfess, Lugar dissent to extraordinary majority.