Introduction to Local Legal Research

County & Municipal

Ordinances and Agenciesunder Federalism

Neal R. AxtonInformation Resources

Who is this man?

Biographical Sketch

• Dennis Rader, Aged 59• Married with children• Lived in Park City, Kansas (suburb of

Wichita)• Deacon at a Lutheran Church• Worked as a Compliance Officer –Housing– Zoning–Animal Control

Compliance Officer

• Compliance with state, county and municipal codes, rules and reg’s– Height of Grass– Parking Legally– Public Nuisance / Noise Ordinances– “Junk” Cars– Dog Ordinance– Heating your home/garage– Smoke Detectors– Household Hazardous Waste

Alter Ego• After a 31-year investigation, police

arrest Dennis Rader as the BTK killer• BTK was caught through metadata on a

computer disk he submitted to police to taunt them• Confessed to 10 murders in 2005• Sentenced to 9 life sentences & “hard 40”• BTK stands for ?

Regulatory State

Everything I do is either illegal, immoral, or fattening.

- W.C. Fields

Compliance Officer was perfect post to investigate people’s homes and private lives.

Nanny State, Surveillance State, Orwellian

Who shall guard the guardians?

- Plato

Ramsey County Ordinances

Clean Water Act

Municipal Ordinances

True or False?

City inspectors (e.g. Minneapolis) can enforce:

• federal law• state law• county ordinances • local ordinances

Governing is a Shared Responsibility

• Balance of Powers• Federalism– Local is Arguably Better– Beyond Reach of Boehner!

Municipal Ordinances• Police Powers

– Health, Welfare, Morality, Safety

• Home Rule

– Cf. Dillon’s Rule

Police Powers via Wikipedia

Corporate Law?• Municipal Corporations

– Antecedents– Roman Law

– City-States

– Common Law

– Corporate Charters– Quasi-Municipal Corporations

• League of Minnesota Cities – http://www.lmc.org/

Good public policy or socialism?

Appeal Pending

Law Struck Down

From page 208-09[I]t cannot be said that the Board of Health acted solely with a view toward public health considerations when it adopted exemptions to the Portion Cap Rule.

Indeed, during the public comment period and hearings both the [Dept. of Health and Mental Hygeine] and the board members themselves indicated that they weighed the potential benefits against economic factors.

The Commissioner went as far as to indicate that in addition to promoting health, the ban would help ameliorate obesity-related health care expenditures in New York.

Exceeded its Jurisdiction

Accordingly, the selective restrictions enacted by the Board of Health … necessarily took into account its own non-health policy considerations. Judged by its deeds rather than by its explanations, the Board of Health's jurisdictional rationale evaporates.

Interstitial Rule Making

[T]he City Charter's Enabling Act, granting the Board of Health explicit power to establish, amend, and repeal the Health Code,

was clearly intended by the legislature to provide the agency with the discretion to engage in interstitial rule making

designed to protect the public from inherently harmful and inimical matters affecting the health of the City...

Not a Health Hazard Per SeIf soda consumption represented such a health hazard, then the Sugary Drink Portion Cap Rule would be exactly the kind of interstitial rule making intended by the legislature and engaged in by the Board of Health in the past...

Rather, the hazard arises from the consumption of sugary soda in “excess quantity.” The risks of obesity and developing diabetes and other illnesses are greater in those who drink soda to excess than in those who drink it in moderation or not at all.

Thus, since soda consumption cannot be classified as a health hazard per se, the Board of Health's action in curtailing its consumption was [NOT] the kind of interstitial rule making intended by the legislature.

18 deaths linked to caffeine

Link

Link

Link

January 24, 2013

Link

City Agencies & Rule-Making• Formal Rule-Making

– Hearings

• Informal Rule-Making– Notice and Comment

• Hybrid Rule-Making– Legislative Decreed Hoops to Jump Through

Home Rule• Does Sugary Portion Rule survive if adopted by Ramsey

County?

• Other types of bans?

– Ban on Alcoholic Beverages

– Ban on Plastic Water Bottles

– Ban on Glass Bottles

Delegating Discretion

The modern tendency is to be more liberal in permitting grants of discretion to administrative officers in order to facilitate the administration of laws as the complexity of economic and governmental conditions increases.

Dunnell’s Digest, Administrative Law, Sec. 1.00d

Minnesota

• Minnesota never adopted Model APA

• Minnesota APA, Minn. Stat. Chapter 14

circa 1945

• Proposed Rules published in

State Register

• Minnesota Rules (compiled since 1970)

• Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH)

Minnesota Regulations

• Chronological: Minnesota Register

• Topical: Minnesota Rules

Chronological Rules

•Order they were adopted

•Most recent supersedes

A business in a government setting…

Subject Area Codes

Two Types of Proposals

Bueller? Bueller?

End of Preamble & Rule Text

Time, tyme, thyme

Obama Care

Thanks but No Thanks

Current Events

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-october-10-2013/medican-t

http://www.leg.state.mn.us/lrl/execorders/

Minnesota Executive Order Search Engine

Rules Browse

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/rules/

Switch to Numerical View

Toggle Switch

Agency View

https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/rules/

External Links

OAH

“Trial Type” Hearings

Federalism & Local Government

http://www.ag.state.mn.us/

Attorney General Opinions

Older Minnesota Attorney General Opinions

• Internal Filing System• Not Chronological• Records not Comprehensive• AG’s Library has ALL opinions on

microfilm• Folksonomy vs. Taxonomy

Immigration Court

http://www.justice.gov/eoir/sibpages/spm/spmmain.htm

Executive Office for Immigration Review

Entertainment Law• Growth of Entertainment

• Bread and Circuses?

• Transactional Law

• Litigation– Torts

• Intellectual Property

• Violence– Can States or Cities Ban Violent Video Games?

Entertainment Law Treatise

Overview• Sports Law

• Entertainment• Movies• Faith-Based Films• TV

– Cable, Airwaves, Satellite • Live Theater

– Broadway• Adult Films• Music Industry

– Live Productions• Video Game Industry

Videogames – Different Realms• World of Warcraft

– Magic Circle Games– MMORPG

• Grand Theft Auto

– Open World Games

• Second Life

– Virtual Worlds as Adjunct to Real Life (In Real Life… IRL)

Evolution

Acting in Video Games• Voice Talent

– Samuel L. Jackson– Kyle MacLachlan– Ice-T– Ray Liotta– Ricky Gervais– Jenna Jameson

• Street Dialogue Actors

• Motion Capture

• Transactional Work– Contracts– Royalties

Mainstreaming?

Entertainment & Local Lawhttp://bit.ly/1hIMyqc

Cities and Entertainment

Liquor by the Drink