This document provides an introduction to researching county and municipal ordinances and agencies under the concept of federalism. It discusses how local governments derive authority from state governments, but also have autonomy through home rule. The document notes that municipal inspectors can enforce local ordinances, but not federal or state laws. It also discusses police powers of local governments and the role of the League of Minnesota Cities.

1. Introduction to
Local Legal Research
County & Municipal
Ordinances and Agencies
under Federalism
Neal R. Axton
Information Resources

2. Who is this man?

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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 ?

6. 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

7. Who shall guard the
guardians?
- Plato

8. Ramsey County Ordinances

9. Clean Water Act

10. Municipal Ordinances

11. True or False?
City inspectors (e.g. Minneapolis) can enforce:
• federal law
• state law
• county ordinances
• local ordinances

12. Governing is a
Shared Responsibility
• Balance of Powers
• Federalism
– Local is Arguably Better
– Beyond Reach of Boehner!

13. Municipal Ordinances
• Police Powers
– Health, Welfare, Morality, Safety
• Home Rule
– Cf. Dillon’s Rule

14. Police Powers via Wikipedia

15. Corporate Law?
• Municipal Corporations
– Antecedents
– Roman Law
– City-States
– Common Law
– Corporate Charters
– Quasi-Municipal Corporations
• League of Minnesota Cities
– http://www.lmc.org/

18. Good public policy or socialism?

19. Appeal Pending

20. Law Struck Down

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. 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...

24. Not a Health Hazard Per Se
If 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.

25. 18 deaths linked to caffeine
Link

26. Link

27. Link
January 24,
2013

28. Link

29. City Agencies & Rule-Making
• Formal Rule-Making
– Hearings
• Informal Rule-Making
– Notice and Comment
• Hybrid Rule-Making
– Legislative Decreed Hoops to Jump Through

30. 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

31. 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.

32. 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)

33. Minnesota Regulations
• Chronological:
Minnesota Register
• Topical: Minnesota Rules

35. Chronological Rules
•Order they were
adopted
•Most recent supersedes

36. A business in a government setting…

37. Subject Area Codes

41. Two Types of Proposals

42. Bueller? Bueller?

43. End of Preamble & Rule Text

46. Time, tyme, thyme

48. Obama Care

49. Thanks but No Thanks

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

51. http://www.leg.state.mn.us/lrl/execorders/
Minnesota Executive Order Search Engine

52. Rules Browse
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/rules/

53. Switch to Numerical View

54. Toggle Switch

55. Agency View
https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/rules/

56. External Links

57. OAH

59. “Trial Type” Hearings

61. Federalism & Local Government

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

63. Attorney General Opinions

64. Older Minnesota Attorney
General Opinions
• Internal Filing System
• Not Chronological
• Records not Comprehensive
• AG’s Library has ALL opinions
on microfilm
• Folksonomy vs. Taxonomy

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

66. Executive Office for Immigration Review

67. Entertainment Law
• Growth of Entertainment
• Bread and Circuses?
• Transactional Law
• Litigation
– Torts
• Intellectual Property
• Violence
– Can States or Cities Ban Violent Video Games?

69. Entertainment Law Treatise

70. Overview
• Sports Law
• Entertainment
• Movies
• Faith-Based Films
• TV
– Cable, Airwaves, Satellite
• Live Theater
– Broadway
• Adult Films
• Music Industry
– Live Productions
• Video Game Industry

71. 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)

72. Evolution

74. 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

75. Mainstreaming?

76. Entertainment & Local Law
http://bit.ly/1hIMyqc

77. Cities and Entertainment

78. Liquor by the Drink