State & Local Government Law

The purpose of the course is to survey and analyze the organization, powers, and duties of state and local governments, their interaction, and how they fit within the increasingly pervasive federal system. We will particularly emphasize finances, home rule, state and local antitrust liability, development agreements, impact fees, tax increment and other debt financing (including state and municipal bonds), the rapidly expanding liabilities of county government under Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act, executive privilege, and the limits to federal authority over state and local functions (the "Federalism" question). Cases, statutes, ordinances, and explanatory articles form the basis of the course. While we cover those aspects of state, local, and federal relations which have particular relevance to Hawai`i, the course will also touch upon certain aspects of those relations which are common elsewhere in the federal system. Control of activities of one level of government by others, both directly and indirectly by means of inducements, is a common theme.