The Role of States

and COVID-19

Thad Kousser, UCSD Political Science

American government is not just national…
It is also state…
And local
Federal, State and Local Governments
Work Together to Provide Vital Services

Yellow lines are federal projects

Red lines are state projects
Green lines are local projects
 I. American States:
50 Semi-Sovereign Governments
¨ Comparing states to the federal government
¤ Similar forms, different functions

¨ Comparing states to each other

¤ Variation in populations
¤ Variation in institutions
¤ Variation in policies

¨ Pros and cons of the federal system

¤ In the era of COVID-19
50 Semi-Sovereign Governments
¨ The US Constitution and the fight over its ratification was at
once a debate over political philosophy and a negotiation
between merging sovereign states.

¨ Throughout 1800s, state governments considered more

powerful than federal.

¨ States rights at center of Civil War (1811-1865) and civil

rights movement (1950s-1960s).

¨ Nearly every Supreme Court session features cases on the

balance between state and federal authority.
 Comparing States to the
Federal Government: Similar Forms

Federal Government State Governments

¨ Directly-elected President
¨ 435 Members of Congress,
one for every 650,000
residents
¨ 100 Senators, two from
every state
¨ Judicial pyramid leading to
Supreme Court
¨ Directly-elected Governors
¨ Every state but Nebraska
has two legislative houses,
all are one-person, one-
vote
¨ States have parallel
judicial pyramids, some
elect judges
 Comparing States to the
Federal Government: Different Functions
Federal Government State Governments
¨ Handles all national ¨ Administer welfare and
defense Medicaid programs
¨ Runs universal pension and ¨ Work with local
elderly health care systems governments to run schools
¨ Sends money to states for ¨ Higher education and
transportation, support for prisons often fight for
the poor funding
¨ Not constrained by ¨ States must balance their
balanced budgets budgets
 Where Do States Get their Money?

Selective Individual Corporate

Property Sales Sales* Income Income Other

Alabama 3.2 27.5 24.7 31.7 3.8 9.1

Alaska 4.6 -- 14.2 -- 19.4 61.8
Arizona 3.5 49.9 13.6 24.2 4.5 4.4
Arkansas 9.1 37.9 13.7 29.7 3.4 6.1
California 2.4 31.4 8.9 41.3 8.6 7.4
Colorado -- 27.6 14.5 48.8 3.0 6.1
Where Do States Spend their Money?

$153 billion in state

spending, plus ~$50
billion of federal money
 Comparing States to Each Other:
Variation in Population Sizes

¨ Megastates: California has 40 million residents, and

Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania,
Ohio, and Michigan also had more than 10 million.

¨ Microstates: Wyoming has 578,759 residents, and

21 states have a smaller population than San Diego
County (3 million).
Comparing States to Each Other:
Variation in Political Ideology
 Comparing States to Each Other:
Variation in Institutions

¨ About half of states are traditional republics, but

the other half allow “direct democracy.”

¨ Some states have made their legislatures look like

Congress, while others retained the “citizen
legislatures” of the 1800s.

¨ There is also variation in campaign finance laws,

strength of parties, powers of the governor, and
election of judges.
 American Local Governments:
Limited Authority, Unlimited Responsbilities

¨ Local governments are created by state

governments. They perform delegated functions,
but do not possess the independence that states do.

¤ City, county, and special district boundaries are in flux,

with new cities “incorporating” and parts of cities
“seceding” fairly often.

¤ States generally set the rules for these important

actions.
Size of Federal, State, and Local Governments
 The Duties of Local Governments:
Delegated Programs and Making Things Work

¨ Delegated Programs: Local governments run schools and

administer some welfare and health programs for states and
federal govt.

¨ Making Things Work: Local governments pay for police and

sheriffs, jails for misdemeanor convictions, trash pickup, road
maintenance, libraries, water and sewage systems, parks and
recreation, and all of the other “little” things.

¨ During the pandemic, local public health officials exercise

huge power.
 Which level reigns “supreme”?
¨ Cities, counties and other local governments are
“creatures of the state”
¤ California’s governor created “watchlist” standards for
counties during the pandemic and shut down schools
¨ State vs. federal powers are constantly contested,
even if “federal law is the supreme law of the land”
 Pros and Cons of the
Federal System
¨ Pro: Variations in state laws encourage innovation
and allow successful experiments to be replicated:
¤ “It is one of the happy incidents of the Federal System
that a single, courageous state may, if its citizens
choose, serve as a laboratory and try novel social and
economic experimentation without risk to the rest of the
country.” -- Louis Brandeis in New State Ice Co v.
Liebmann, 1932
¤ During the pandemic, states have been able to watch
and learn from their neighbors, and readjust policies
 Pros and Cons of the
Federal System
¨ Con: Variations in state laws mean that what state you live in
determines:

¤ What sort of taxes you pay, what you can smoke, and until
a recent Supreme Court decision, with whom you could
sleep.

¤ States have taken different approaches to shutdowns, re-

openings, masks, and schools, which changes health
conditions as you cross borders.

¤ This creates “externalities,” which some states have tried to

combat by imposing quarantines on neighbors
 A Tale of Two States

California Arizona
¨ Early shutdowns, a slower ¨ Slower to shut down, a
reopening, and a state faster reopening, and a
prohibition against school 5% financial penalty
reopening for 90% of against any school district
students not reopening
 Con: Cutthroat Competition
Between States
¨ Without a coordinated national plan to secure
personal protective equipment or testing supplies:
¤ ”We are on our own” – Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont
¤ “You now literally will have a company call you up and
say, ‘Well, California just outbid you.’ It’s like being on
eBay with 50 other states, bidding on a ventilator.” –
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo
 Pros and Cons of the
Federal System
¨ Con: Being governed both by a state and a
national government makes it hard for voters to
know who to reward or punish.

¤ When COVID cases rise in your community or your

state, do you blame county supervisors the state
legislature, the governor, Congress, or the President?

¤ Complicating this is that cases spill across the borders

of local, state, and national governments
Florida Spring Break 2020
The