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An "unfunded mandate" is any federal law that requires the state or local government to provide some service, but does not provide any federal funds to provide that service. Thus, States or Localities are told to perform some task, but are not given any money to do it. They must take money out of their normal budgets, even if it means cuts to other programs. The concern is that the federal government does not know how costly these mandates are, and since they provide no compensatory monies, the federal government feels free to make these requirements of the localities with no repercussions to the federal budget (but the laws often severe impact the state or local budgets).

The federal government forces the state or locality to do its "job" for free (that is, it's free for the federal government to push the work to the state, which has to pay for someone else's decisions).

The term has come into vogue to particularly describe laws requiring certain actions in fields traditionally reserved for the states' discretion. Education is a big one - states have traditionally set educational standards and methods, and funding for education is provided by state and local taxation as well as through State lottery programs. "Unfunded mandates" through federal legislation that dictates educational standards and requirements, when the state is required to implement these federal standards using its normal state education budget, means an extra financial without any federal monies.

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Q: Why are states and local governments concerned about unfunded mandates?
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Governors of 35 states have filed suit against the?

Federal Government to block execution of unfunded mandates.


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The states and government compete for leadership of the country's domestic policy. Much of the conflict is over unfunded mandates.


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Is the Americans with disabilities act a federal mandate?

Yes, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Amendments Act of 2008 are unfunded mandates. An unfunded mandate is any piece of federal legislation which requires the states to follow a set of regulations without providing an explicit means to finance them. The ADA, ADAAA, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, etc are all examples of unfunded mandates.


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What has the author Paul L Posner written?

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