What Trickled Down? Federalism, State Government Fiscal Stress, and Local Government Outcomes
Much has been written about a shift in federal to state relationships during the 1990s. Couched in terms of a renewed fiscal federalism, devolution, or even the heady rhetoric of “reinventing” government both resources and public service authority flowed to the state governments. Somewhat less was said at the time regarding state governments’ relationships with local governments or the extent of federal re-distributions of resources beyond state governments to local governments. This paper is an investigation of some of the federalism transformations that occurred in the past decade or so. In particular, it assesses the flow of resources and spending at all levels of government and sorts out which show changes in relationships.
To Devolve or Not To Devolve? Welfare Reform in the States
This article analyzes variation in the degree to which states have responded to the devolution of welfare at the federal level by devolving authority over welfare policy to local government. I find that to the extent that states have devolved authority to lower levels of government, they tend to be states that already had a high degree of involvement of local government in welfare provision. In states without this record of local government involvement, the devolution that has occurred has not generated greater involvement of local government, but rather responsibility has been devolved to regional entities with ties to workforce development and with a substantial degree of business involvement. As states gain increasing authority over a redistributive policy, they may begin to treat it as a subset of a larger developmental policy—workforce development.
ARIZONA'S WELFARE REFORM EXPERIENCE
Arizona took a significant and early first step toward reshaping its welfare program with the 1995 enactment of the Employing and Moving People Off Welfare and Encouraging Responsibility (EMPOWER) program. At the time of its implementation, EMPOWER was one of the most extensive AFDC waiver programs in the nation and one of the first to include in one program such major reforms as mandatory cash sanctions for noncompliance, adult time limits, transitional medical and child care, a family benefit cap, and unwed minor parent provisions. Most of EMPOWER’s provisions already met TANF program requirements and were carried over into the state’s current welfare program, EMPOWER REDESIGN. Based on this recent history, welfare in Arizona now focuses on three main principles: increase work, reduce dependency and promote self-sufficiency, and increase client accountability and program efficiency. Because of Arizona’s experience and commitment to both the philosophy and implementation of welfare reform preceding PRWORA, and the strong economy in Arizona, it seems reasonable to assume that if welfare reform is to succeed, signs of that success should be apparent in Arizona. This report assesses this proposition by examining changes in the states welfare approach from 1995 through 1998. Early findings are reviewed for local coordination, management information systems, privatization, outcome measurement, impacts of time limits, sanctions, and other caseload data and dynamics.