The United States has a written constitution to regulate all Americans, and states have their written constitution to regulate their specific state residents. State constitutions are far more elaborate than the U.S. Constitution because they establish rules and procedures that state governments must follow to serve the people. A state constitution may challenge the federal body, or something permitted in a state that may not be permitted in other states. For example, in Texas, Florida, South Dakota, and Tennessee, to name a few, residents do not pay state income taxes while the others do, and in Oregon, residents do not pay sales tax, whereas others do.
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The United States is governed by a political mechanism called Federalism, which is the division of power between the federal government and state government. Americans are required to follow both Federal and state laws. The exact structure of the federal government also exists at the state level means that State governments are modeled after the Federal Government and consist of three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.
At the federal level, the executive is headed by a president and a vice president, whereas there is a governor and a lieutenant governor at the state level. Attorney generals, secretaries of states, ministries or departments, and auditors and commissioners exist at the government’s federal and state levels. Officers at the national level decide for the entire country, while officers at the state level decide for their respective states.
At the federal level, there is a bicameral U.S. Congress. In contrast, except in Nebraska, there are bicameral state legislature at state levels, meaning that the legislature consists of two separate legislative chambers or House. U.S. members are called Congressmen or Congresswomen who represent their state and make laws that affect the entire republic. In contrast, members of the state legislature are called state senators or house representatives who represent their state district.
Two senators represent each state, and the state’s population determines the number of representatives, so the number of Representatives varies widely between states. Therefore, there are 100 senators and as many as 435 representatives in the U.S. Congress. The people elect Senators for six years at the federal level and elect representatives for two years. With few exceptions, residents elect senators for four years and representatives for two years at the state levels.
The size of state legislatures depends on the number of districts particular states have, meaning the more districts, the more state senators and house representatives. For example, the Florida legislature has 160 state legislators (120 in the House and 40 in the Senate), whereas the New-York parliament has 213 state legislators (150 in the House and 63 in the Senate). The smaller upper chamber is always called the Senate, and the larger lower chamber is most often called the House of Representatives, but some states call it the Assembly or the House of Delegates.
At the judicial level, the highest federal court in the United States is the Supreme Court, whereas the highest of the state government is the State Supreme Court. Each state has its supreme court, which as the federal supreme court, hears appeals from lower-level state courts. Rulings made in State supreme courts are typically binding; however, when questions regarding consistency with the U.S. Constitution arise, matters may be appealed directly to the United States Supreme Court.
At the bottom of the totem pole are local or municipality governments generally composed of districts, municipalities, and counties, also known as boroughs in Alaska and parishes in Louisiana. Local governments elect mayors, city councils, and other governing bodies to lead the municipalities.
They are responsible for parks and recreation services, police and fire departments, housing services, emergency medical services, municipal courts, transportation services (including public transportation), and public works. Various districts also provide local government functions outside the county or municipal boundaries, such as school districts or fire protection districts.
The federal government is the national government whose members sit in Washington D.C. as a capital. In contrast, state governments (currently 50) are local governments whose members sit in their respective state capital.
Bobb Rousseau, PhD
www.cecoyauniversity.com
www.medicpam.com
