Home rule in the United States



Home rule in the United States relates to the authority of a constituent part of a U.S. state to exercise powers of governance; i.e.: whether such powers must be specifically delegated to it by the state (typically by legislative action) or are generally implicitly allowed unless specifically denied by state-level action.

In some states, known as home rule states, the state's constitution grants municipalities and/or counties the ability to pass various types of laws to govern themselves (so long as the laws do not conflict with the state and federal constitutions). In other states, only limited authority has been granted to local governments by passage of statutes in the state legislature. In these states, a city or county must obtain permission from the state legislature if it wishes to pass a law or ordinance which is not specifically permitted under existing state legislation.

Forty of the fifty states apply some form of the principle known as Dillon's Rule, which says that local governments may exercise only powers that the state specifically grants to them, to determine the bounds of a municipal government's legal authority. The National League of Cities identifies 31 Dillon's Rule states, 10 home rule states, 8 states that apply Dillon's Rule only to certain municipalities, and one state (Florida) that applies home rule to everything except taxation. Each state defines for itself what powers it will grant to local governments. Within the local sphere, there are four categories in which the state may allow discretionary authority: "*Structural – power to choose the form of government, charter and enact charter revisions,
 * Functional – power to exercise local self government in a broad or limited manner,
 * Fiscal – authority to determine revenue sources, set tax rates, borrow funds and other related financial activities,
 * Personnel – authority to set employment rules, remuneration rates, employment conditions and collective bargaining."

Home rule and Dillon's Rule states
The following chart indicates which of the 50 U.S. states are home rule states and which states obey the legal principle of Dillon's Rule for determining local government authority. A state in this chart with "Limited" home rule may grant home rule to particular cities and municipalities individually but has no constitutional provision guaranteeing home rule. A state which is both a home rule state and a Dillon's Rule state applies Dillon's Rule to matters or governmental units not accounted for in the constitutional amendment or statutes which grant home rule.

The District of Columbia has a limited form of home rule granted by the Federal Government; see District of Columbia home rule for details.