Identifies 391 State and federal mandates on local governments, 29 of which have been implemented since 1991. Areas most affected by mandates are health and human services, education, and public works. While primarily for Virginia governments, many Federal mandates are included.

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the perspectives of state and local government representatives on the impact of unfunded federal mandates. GAO noted that: (1) state and local officials are concerned with the cost of mandates, the lack of flexibility and impact of mandates on local budgets, and the absence of evidence to support the need for some mandates; (2) the costs of implementing unfunded mandates are difficult to measure; (3) although growing concern about the effects of mandates on state and local governments has generated a variety of countermeasures, no uniform solutions have been found; and (4) legislative initiatives to restrict the passage of unfunded mandates have been introduced at the state and federal levels of government.

This book offers an overview of the legal, political, and broad intergovernmental environment in which relations between local and state units of government take place, the historical roots of the conflict among them, and an analysis of contemporary problems concerning local authority, local revenues, state interventions and takeovers, and the restructuring of local governments. The author pays special attention to local governmental autonomy and the goals and activities of local officials as they seek to secure resources, fend off regulations and interventions, and fight for survival as independent units. He looks at the intergovernmental struggle from the bottom up, but in the process examines a variety of political activities at the state level and the development and effects of several state policies. Berman finds considerable reason to be concerned about the viability and future of meaningful local government.