Kudos to Gov. Bob McDonnell, who wants Virginia to become a national leader in reducing unfunded state mandates on local jurisdictions. Mandates compel towns, cities and counties to do the commonwealth’s bidding without providing the financial support required to comply. Whether they emanate from Richmond or Washington, unfunded mandates are power plays that force local governmental units to spend their own money implementing the policy goals of the state or federal government. They are also a major obstacle to the ideal of a limited, accountable government. Led by Fairfax Supervisor Pat Herrity, the governor’s Task Force on Local Mandate Review looked at more than 600 unfunded state mandates last fall. After soliciting input from state agencies and more than 100 local governments, the task force held hearings and bypassed those with a federal component that Virginia could not unilaterally change. The task force recommended eliminating 60 unfunded mandates — 10 percent of the total — whose abolishment will save local governments tens of millions of dollars annually. One requiring online SOL testing in middle school costs Fairfax County alone $4 million annually, or the cost of hiring 60 teachers.
Herrity told The Washington Examiner that roughly a third of the task force’s recommendations will be presented as legislation by the governor, another third will be presented at a future date, and the final third can be eliminated administratively. This is an historic effort, he added, since only one unfunded state mandate has ever been eliminated in the entire history of Virginia. That happened last year, when the General Assembly dropped a 1999 requirement that local jails report any out-of-state prisoners they were holding to the Department of Corrections within 48 hours. The reporting mandate was imposed due to concerns about the then-impending closure of the Lorton Correctional Complex, but corrections officials pointed out there was no longer any significant need.
Some of the task force’s recommendations are controversial, such as allowing local school boards to start classes before Labor Day in defiance of the so-called Kings Dominion rule and giving local governments more time to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests. Other unfunded mandates on the chopping block contain worthy goals, such as requiring civics training for teachers. But without state funding to back them up, those decisions rightfully belong at the local level, to be made by elected representatives of the people who ultimately must pay to implement them.
