VDI;34,Nq,~
STATE AND LOCAL
GoiVERNMEN T
~I{~I~"IEW
Contents
General Interest
78 Who Becomes Involved in City-County
Consolidation? Findings from County
Officials in 25 Communities
JeredB. CarrandRichard
C. Feiock
PESPrrETHEENORMOUS
attention paid to city-county consolidation in the public administration literature, general propositions about who becomes involved in these efforts and why are
yet to be developed. This article attempts to redress this gap,
using data collected from a survey of county officials in
communiti~s that held referenda on city-county consolidation
in 1987-97. The data permit an assessmentof the extent of
involvement of several prominent community groups in the
two stagesof city-county consolidation: the agenda-setting
stage, in which the issue of consolidation first emerges before
the local delegation and the general public, and the referendum stage, which culminates in the ratification or rejection of
the new charter. The authors recommend avenuesfor further
study and enjoin researchers to move beyond developing
theories regarding the successor failure of consolidations to
addressmore fundamental questions about who prompts
consolidation efforts and why.
95 City Govemment Structures:
An Attempt at Clarification
Victor S. DeSantisand 1àri Renner
ACCORDING
TOthe literature-although much of it is impressionisticand anecdotal-the two major municipalgovemment
structures(i.e., council-managerand mayor-council)mar no
longer be adequa
te to describecurrent governance.Indeed,
thesestructureshavebeenevolvinginto hybrid forms. Using
datafrom the latestnationalMunicipal Form of Govemment
Surveyconductedby the International City/County Management Association,the authorsidentify a typology of seven
different subcategories
of the two major structuresto delineatethe administrativeandpolicy-makingprocesses
in
Americancicies.The following forms arenoted: councilmanager,council-managerwith at-Iargemayor,councilmanagerwith an empoweredmayor,strong mayor-council
with an appointedchief administrativeofficer (CAO), strong
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mayor-councilwithout CAO, weakmayor-councilwith CAO,
andweakmayor-councilwithout CAO. However,many
mayor-councilcommunities-with andwithout appointed
CAOs-do not fit within thesesubcategories
asa result of the
inconsistencybetweenthe reportedauthority of the elected
executivein budgetpreparation,appointmentof department
heads,and the veto power.If thesehybrid fonns continueto
emerge,the practicaland theoreticalrelevanceof the two
broadfonns of governmentcategoriesmar becomea thing
of the pasto
105 Municipal Experiencewidt "Pay-as-You-Throw"
Policies: Findings from a National Survey
David H. Folz and Jacqueline N. Giles
BASEDON a large nationally representative sample of cicies that
have recycling programs, this study examineswhether a "payas-you-throw" (PAYT) pricing policy for solid waste servicesis
an incentive for households to change their waste disposal and
recycling behaviors. The study finds that-controlling for the
effects of other policies and demographic features-cities that
adopted this policy realized significant reductions in the
amount of waste disposed per household and significant
increasesin the amount of materiaIs recycled. The study concludes that a PAYT policy mar potentially help local officials
advance the strategic waste management goals of waste
reduction, increased recycling, and contrai of waste disposal
costs.
116 Innovation and Diffusion of Managed Care
in Medicaid Programs
ShadB. Satterthwaite
Tms ARTICLE
focuseson statepolicy innovation among
Medicaid programs.Budgetconstraintsand a Republican
Congresshaveled statesto becomemore resourcefulin the
waysin which policiesareimplemented.This studyexamines
statesthat haveadoptedmanagedcare(i.e.,Medicaid)in an
effort to reducecostsand broadenhealth carecoverage.In
manycases,statesdraw lessonsfrom other statesand adopt
similar programs.The adoptionof managedcarefor Medicaid
recipientsis alsoinfluencedby other factorsindigenousto a
state.The studyrelieson dataderivedfrom a pooled,crosssectionaltime-seriesanalysisusingvariablessuchasthe
number of uninsured,the fiscalhealth of a state,and the
numberofyears thatstateshavehad HMOs.
76
StateandLocalGovemmentReview
Contents
A ResearchNote
127 E-Mail in the State Legislature:
Evidence from Three States
ChristopherA. Cooper
SCHOLARS
OFstatelegislatureshavebeenslow to recognizethe
growing importanceof infonnation technology.Using a
surveyof legislatorsin California, Georgia,andIowa, the
author examineshow legislatorsusee-mail.The studyfinds
that althoughmost legislatorshaveaccessto e-mail, male
legislatorsaresignificantlymore likely than their female
counterpartsto makeuseof this technology.Furthennore,
the studyshowsthat e-mail is more than merely a tool for
constituentcommunication.A number of legislatorsuseemail to communicatewith other political elites.It is recommendedthat scholarsrecognizee-mail asa new meansof
communicationthat is changingthe way in which legislators
communicatewith policy actorsother than constituents.
Legislators'useof e-mail hasimplicationsfor how they do
their work.
Practitioners
Comer
133 Local Govemment, F ederalism, and the
Telecommunications
Revolution
RogerRichman
lN THEFederalTelecommunications
Act of 1996,Congress
declaredthe nationalinterestin deregulatingtelecommunications servicesand authorizedfederalpreemptionof stateand
local regulationsheld to create"barriersto entry" to telecommunicationsmarkets.By 2002,sixyearsafter passage
of the
act, federalcourtshad decideda seriesof casespreempting
andoverturning local regulationof telecommunications
providers.This article reportson the leadingcourt decisions
concerninglocal telecommunicationsordinancesthat regulate
telecommunicationsserviceproviders.Local govemments
haveimportantstakesin the evolvinglimits of their authority
to affectcableandwirelessinfrastructureplacementandhighspeeddigital serviceswithin their jurisdictions.
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