Federal Mandates
DEFINITION: A federal mandate is a requirement or an order from the central government that all state and local government must comply with. In some cases the Federal government doe not have authority to do something, so they will find a way to change something else. In effect, the government threatens the state or even possibly an individual by removing funds for certain services or luxuries, thus the states are encouraged to cooperate.
PAST EXAMPLE: A good past example would be when the drinking age was defined by the states, but the Federal Government passed a law that they would severely cut highway funds to any state that didn't raise their drinking age to 21.
PRESENT EXAMPLE: A more recent example (within the last few years) would be the Neighborhood Stabilization Program(NSP1&3). Chosen out of a list of possibly hundreds of mandates, it is just an example of what one of these mandates would look like today. It goes on to say, "Local governments receiving financial
aid from the Neighborhood Stabilization Program(NSP1&3)must comply with program
application requirements, record keeping requirements and established deadlines.
There are requirements for an audit for entities that expend financial assistance
of $500,000 or more in federal awards." The mention of an audit is a tactic to regulate how the state behaves under the mandate.