Chapter 15 Quiz

Twelve multiple-choice questions and four short-answer prompts. Answers and explanations follow at the end.

Multiple Choice

1. Approximately how many distinct units of local government does the US Census Bureau identify in the United States?

a. About 9,000 b. About 30,000 c. About 90,000 d. About 250,000

2. Which state has the only unicameral state legislature in the United States?

a. Alaska b. Hawaii c. Nebraska d. Wyoming

3. How many of the 50 state legislatures are bicameral?

a. 47 b. 48 c. 49 d. 50

4. How many state governors hold a line-item veto over appropriations bills?

a. 27 b. 35 c. 43 d. All 50

5. Which of the following is NOT a major method used by states to select state-court judges?

a. Gubernatorial appointment with confirmation b. Partisan election c. Nonpartisan election d. Selection by lottery from the state bar e. Merit selection (Missouri Plan) with retention election

6. About how many states allow citizens to use the initiative, referendum, and recall mechanisms in some combination?

a. 12 b. 18 c. 24 d. 38

7. Dillon's Rule, articulated in 1868, holds that:

a. Cities are independent sovereigns whose powers cannot be limited by state law. b. Cities are creatures of state law and possess only those powers expressly granted, necessarily implied, or essential to declared objects. c. Counties have authority over all unincorporated land within state boundaries. d. School districts must be funded primarily through state-level revenue.

8. American school districts are typically governed by:

a. The state board of education in each state, with no local body. b. The county commission in each county, acting as the local school authority. c. An elected school board at the local district level, often in nonpartisan, off-cycle elections. d. The mayor of the largest city within the district's boundaries.

9. A "special district" is best understood as:

a. A district drawn for purposes of congressional apportionment. b. A narrow-purpose unit of local government with its own taxing or fee authority, focused on a single function (water, fire, library, etc.). c. A federal jurisdiction reserved for territorial governance. d. A judicial district whose authority overlaps multiple states.

10. As of 2026, how many federally recognized Native American tribes are there?

a. About 175 b. About 300 c. About 574 d. About 900

11. Which of the following are the five inhabited US territories?

a. Puerto Rico, Guam, the US Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa b. Puerto Rico, Cuba, Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa c. Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Guam, the US Virgin Islands, the Panama Canal Zone d. Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa

12. State preemption of local ordinances has been used:

a. Only by Republican-led state legislatures preempting blue cities. b. Only by Democratic-led state legislatures preempting red localities. c. By state legislatures of both parties when they hold control, preempting localities of the opposite political orientation on issues including minimum wage, gun ordinances, sanctuary policies, and short-term-rental rules. d. By the federal government, but never by state governments.

Short Answer

13. What is the empirical case for treating state and local government as the larger half of American government, by employees and by spending on services people directly consume? Briefly explain.

(Aim for 100–150 words.)

14. The chapter argues that legislative term limits have produced specific empirical effects. Identify three documented effects (positive or negative) on legislative behavior, and briefly note why each effect occurs.

(Aim for 100–150 words.)

15. Distinguish among the three direct-democracy mechanisms — initiative, referendum, and recall — and give one real-world recent example of each.

(Aim for 100–150 words.)

16. Why does the chapter say that "preemption cuts both directions politically"? Give one concrete example of red-state preemption of blue-leaning localities and one of blue-state preemption of red-leaning localities.

(Aim for 100–150 words.)

Answers and Explanations

1. (c) About 90,000. The 2022 Census of Governments identified just over 90,000 distinct units of local government — approximately 3,000 counties, 36,000 municipalities, 12,800 townships, 12,800 school districts, and 38,000 special districts.

2. (c) Nebraska. Since 1937, on Senator George Norris's urging. The Nebraska legislature has 49 senators, no second chamber, and runs on a formally nonpartisan basis.

3. (c) 49. Nebraska is the only unicameral state legislature; the other 49 are all bicameral, though their structures vary.

4. (c) 43. Forty-three of fifty state governors hold some form of line-item veto over appropriations bills. The federal president has no line-item veto after Clinton v. City of New York (1998); Wisconsin has the most expansive partial-veto power of any state.

5. (d) Selection by lottery from the state bar. No state uses lottery-from-the-bar to select judges. The four major methods are gubernatorial appointment with confirmation, partisan election, nonpartisan election, and merit selection (Missouri Plan) with retention election. Many states use combinations across court levels.

6. (c) 24. Twenty-four states allow some form of citizen-initiated ballot measure, with substantial variation in whether the initiative authority extends to constitutional amendments, statutes, or both.

7. (b) Cities are creatures of state law, possessing only those powers expressly granted, necessarily implied, or essential to declared objects, with reasonable doubt resolved against the city. Some states follow a looser "home rule" tradition, but Dillon's Rule is the default in most states.

8. (c) Most American school districts are governed by an elected school board, typically in nonpartisan, off-cycle elections. School-board elections were historically among the lowest-turnout elections in the country, though turnout has risen substantially since 2020.

9. (b) A special district is a narrow-purpose unit of local government with its own taxing or fee authority focused on a single function — water, fire, library, transit, hospital, mosquito abatement, soil conservation, parks, etc. There are approximately 38,000 nationally.

10. (c) About 574. As of 2026, the Bureau of Indian Affairs maintains a Tribal Leaders Directory listing approximately 574 federally recognized Native American tribes, each a sovereign nation in its relationship to the federal government.

11. (a) Puerto Rico, Guam, the US Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa. The combined population is roughly 3.5 million — comparable to four small states. Cuba, the Philippines, the Panama Canal Zone, Hawaii, and Alaska are not current US territories: Cuba and the Philippines are independent countries, the Canal Zone was returned to Panama, and Hawaii and Alaska became states in 1959.

12. (c) Preemption is used by state legislatures of both parties. Texas, Florida, Missouri, and other Republican-led states have preempted blue cities on minimum-wage, sanctuary, and short-term-rental issues; Colorado, New York, and other Democratic-led states have preempted localities on rent-control rules, firearm-shop bans, and other matters. The pattern is bipartisan: whichever party holds state government uses preemption against localities of the opposite orientation.

13. State and local governments together employ around 20 million people (roughly 5 million state and 15 million local), compared with about 2.1 million federal civilian employees. State and local combined spending was about $4.1 trillion in fiscal year 2025, while federal spending was about $7.0 trillion — but federal totals include Social Security, Medicare, defense, and interest on the debt, accounting for over half of federal outlays. On services that people consume directly (schools, police, roads, prisons, courts, hospitals, sanitation, parks), state and local governments substantially outspend the federal government. The empirical case is that, by direct services and by personnel, state and local government is the larger operational half.

14. First: term limits reduce institutional memory, because newer legislators have less experience with the policy areas of their committees. Second: term limits increase legislative turnover and demographic diversity, because more women and racial minorities have entered legislatures with term limits than without. Third: term limits shift power to the executive and bureaucracy, because governors and agency heads with longer tenure accumulate comparative advantage in expertise. The empirical research also finds that term limits do not reduce campaign spending and may slightly increase polarization. The findings are uncomfortable for both advocates and opponents.

15. The initiative allows citizens to gather signatures to place a measure directly on the ballot — example: California's Proposition 13 (1978) capping property taxes. The referendum is a measure passed by the legislature submitted to voters for approval — example: Ohio Issue 1 (2023) on reproductive rights, placed on the ballot by petition. The recall allows voters to remove an elected official before the term ends — example: the unsuccessful 2021 recall of California Governor Gavin Newsom, which he won 62-38, or the unsuccessful 2012 recall of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, who became the first US governor to defeat a recall.

16. State preemption shifts with which party controls state government. Red-state preemption of blue-leaning localities: Texas SB 4 (2017) preempted local sanctuary policies; Florida preempted local minimum-wage increases above the state floor; Florida preempted local short-term-rental and plastic-bag rules. Blue-state preemption of red-leaning localities: Colorado has preempted local rent-control rules and local firearm-shop bans; New York has preempted New York City on certain transportation policies. The institutional logic is the same — a state government using its constitutional authority over its political subdivisions — even though the policy preferences differ.