Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

State and Local Government Law

University of Colorado Law School

Journal

2015

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

Preventing Government Shutdowns: Designing Default Rules For Budgets, David Scott Louk, David Gamage Jan 2015

Preventing Government Shutdowns: Designing Default Rules For Budgets, David Scott Louk, David Gamage

University of Colorado Law Review

In nearly every area of law and governance, default policies exist when lawmakers cannot pass new legislation-typically the status quo simply remains in effect. To its detriment, United States budget making at both the state and federal levels lacks effective defaults. If a new budget isn't passed by year end, there is no budget, and the government shuts down. The lack of defaults, coupled with a dysfunctional era of budgetary politics, has led to a number of recent high profile and costly government shutdowns at the state and federal levels. To date, legal scholarship has failed to address both the …


Recall Me Maybe? The Corrosive Effect Of Recall Elections On State Legislative Politics, Zachary J. Siegel Jan 2015

Recall Me Maybe? The Corrosive Effect Of Recall Elections On State Legislative Politics, Zachary J. Siegel

University of Colorado Law Review

For the first time in Colorado's 137-year history, voters in two districts recalled their state senators from office in September 2013. Although the event prompted significant debate over the controversial gun legislation that sparked the grassroots efforts to trigger the recall elections, discussion generally overlooked the implications of using political recall altogether-implications that concern the very foundation of American democracy: the role of the legislator. This Comment aims to fill that gap, examining politically motivated recalls in the context of state legislatures. Using the recent Colorado examples as a case study, this Comment argues that increased use of the tactic …