State and Local Government Law Commons^™

Hitching Our Wagon To A Dim Star: Why Outmoded Water Codes And "Public Interest" Review Cannot Protect The Public Trust In Western Water Law, Michelle Bryan Mudd

Faculty Law Review Articles

This article examines the interrelationship between the public trust and water rights as it is emerging in western states.

Part I of this article describes the traditional public trust principles that apply to waters, as well as the modern judicial trend of extending those principles to water use permitting in the West.

Focusing on an area of particular concern in water codes, Part II analyzes the risky implications of supplanting the public trust doctrine with existing public interest review provisions.

Finally, Part III advances a water use permitting framework that better fulfills the states' public trust responsibilities. Drawing on the …

Reconciling American Marijuana Policy In A Federal System, Catherine Morton

Global Tides

The recent successful ballot initiatives in Colorado and Washington to legalize recreational marijuana despite restrictive federal law continue to demonstrate the disconnect between national and state marijuana policy. In order to understand how many of these national policies were enacted, an investigation will be presented of the discriminatory history of marijuana legislation, indicating the inconsistent nature of past regulation. Thus following will be an examination of relevant Supreme Court cases depicting the Supreme Court’s ultimate hesitation to prevent the states from circumventing federal marijuana law. Finally, a discussion will be held on the ramifications of inconsistent state and national policies, …

Community-Scale Renewable Energy, Hannah J. Wiseman, Sara C. Bronin

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

No Seat At The Water Table: Colorado's New Groundwater Basin Statute Leaves Senior Surface Rights In The Lurch, Ari J. Stiller-Shulman

University of Colorado Law Review

Wells that pump water from underground aquifers deplete water flowing in nearby rivers and streams. Colorado farmers in certain parts of the state use wells to pump large quantities of underground water for irrigation. However, other users who had pre-existing surface-water rights on nearby streams have complained that these wells drain the river and injure their prior vested water rights. Normally, surface water users with prior rights can require more junior users to stop appropriating until the senior user has diverted her full right. However, Colorado presumes that wells in certain districts-called designated basins-do not injure nearby surface streams. Still, …

The Public Pension Crisis , Jack M. Beermann

Washington and Lee Law Review

Unfunded employee pension obligations will present a serious fiscal problem to state and local governments in the not-toodistant future. This Article takes a look at the causes and potential cures for the public pension mess, mainly through the lens of legal doctrines that limit public employers’ ability to avoid obligations. As far as the causes are concerned, this Article examines the political environment within which public pension promises are made and funded, as an attempt to understand how this occurred. The Article then turns to ask if states could implement meaningful reforms without violating either state or federal law. In …

Joint Reform?: The Interplay Of State, Federal, And Hemispheric Regulation Of Recreational Marijuana And The Failed War On Drugs, Steven W. Bender

Faculty Articles

In 2012, Washington and Colorado voters surprised the nation by authorizing the recreational use of marijuana. The outcome sent state regulators scrambling to implement the directive and supply a product source, while the federal government faced its own dilemma of whether to tolerate or squelch these state initiatives contradicting longstanding federal law. Surely the Mexican drug cartels (and other illicit growers and suppliers from Canada and within the United States) weighed the prospect for wider reform and its consequences for their multi-billion dollar industry. Although few of these uncertainties have been resolved with any clarity at the time of this …

The Executive Right To Lease Mineral Real Property In Texas Before And After Lesley V. Veterans Land Board., Christopher S. Kulander

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Deceiving Law Students: Employment Statistics And Tort Liability., Angie Roberts-Huckaby

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

To A Professor: Douglas Haddock Retires., Charles Epps Ipock

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

New Oil And Old Laws: Problems In Allocation Of Production To Owners Of Non-Participating Royalty Interests In The Era Of Horizontal Drilling., Benjamin Holliday

St. Mary's Law Journal

Oil and gas exploration and production is not only a big business, it is also an expensive one. As with any business, when faced with competing alternatives, operators generally prefer to pursue exploration in areas with more stable and predictable legal environments. Efforts have previously been made to make Texas such an environment, but as technology advances, legal rules often become unclear in their application. The explosion in horizontal drilling activity is challenging the courts and the Texas Railroad Commission to apply and adapt traditional legal and regulatory concepts to horizontal wells. The growing dominance of horizontal well development is …

Plugging The School-To-Prison Pipeline By Improving Behavior And Protecting Core Judicial Functions: A Constitutional Crisis Looms., Patrick S. Metze

St. Mary's Law Journal

The consolidation of the Texas Youth Commission (TYC) and the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission (TJPC) into the Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) in 2011, produced a unified state juvenile justice agency to promote public safety first and to produce positive outcomes for youth, families, and communities second. As Professor Metze’s second paper discussing ways to effect a change in the School-to-Prison Pipeline, he first highlights the progress of TJJD’s use of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) in the Texas juvenile correctional context as continued evidence that such techniques, if effective in the correctional setting, will certainly work in the …

Texas Legislative Implications For Minors Accused Of Sexting., Mallory N. Myers

St. Mary's Law Journal

State legislation criminalizing sexting—the possession or electronic transmission of visual material capturing a minor engaged in sexual conduct—should not punish minors similarly to adults. The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (Walsh Act) in conjunction with the Sex Offender Registration & Notification Act (SORNA), require that any individual, including a minor, convicted of child pornography register as a sex offender. As a result, states with legislation that categorize sexting as child pornography, will require a minor with a sexting conviction to register as a sex offender. This disportionate punishment on the minor will make it difficult for …

Water Can Be For Drinking Again: Economic And Collaborative Solutions To A Texas Water Fight., Aaron Culp

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

The Co-Author Prenup., David A. Schlueter

St. Mary's Law Journal

Producing a book or article with co-authors is not an easy task. There are six potential issues one might consider before deciding to co-author a book or article. First, do you really want to be a co-author? Second, how many co-authors are going to be involved in the project? Having more than one co-author can make the departure of a co-author less of an issue, but each co-author needs to have a clearly defined role. Third, what role will each member of the team perform and what are those roles? Fourth, what should the co-author “marriage” look like? Multiple scenarios …

Secured Transaction History: Protecting Holmes' Notes Through The Conditional Sales Acts., George Lee Flint Jr.

St. Mary's Law Journal

The historical explanation for the adoption of the conditional sales acts is woefully lacking. How and why the first conditional sales acts arose are investigated. Grant Gilmore, when presenting his theory, confessed ignorance concerning the origins of the conditional sale transaction, first known as Holmes’ notes. The failure of traditional legal historians to explain the passage of the conditional sales acts encourages inquiry into their legislative history to find an explanation. Pre-Act American decisions provide clues regarding the ratification of the acts. The courts provided three explanations for their passage: to treat the conditional sale as a chattel mortgage, to …

The South Texas Drought And The Future Of Groundwater Use For Hydraulic Fracturing In The Eagle Ford Shale., Taelor A. Allen

St. Mary's Law Journal

Texas has undergone a succession of historic droughts, each one creating unique problems and controversies. The state is also one of the largest national producers of oil and gas with the Eagle Ford Shale fields contributing to the production boom. The technique used to extract the oil is called hydraulic fracturing, which requires large volumes of water to be injected at high pressures to “frac” and release gas from an underground formation. The amount of water required places even greater strain on the regional water supply. This Comment highlights legal issues raised by the high volumes of groundwater used for …

Religious Freedom Legislation In The 2013 Virginia General Assembly, Ellis M. West

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

This article consists of the following sections: Section one presents the content of the proposed amendment and explains the ways in which it is unclear, redundant, and otherwise poorly written. Section two addresses the issue of whether the provisions intended to protect religious expression, including prayer, are necessary and can solve the problems they are intended to solve. It also identifies the crucial challenge in cases involving religious expression - namely, determining correctly whether it is the government or a private individual or group that is expressing or promoting a religious belief or practice. This determination must be made because …

Federalism As A Preventative Measure: Avoiding State Enforcement Of Federal Anti-Gun Legislation In 2013, Brielle Hunt

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

This comment will delve into this question, seeking to answer whether or not the Constitution allows states to refuse to comply with federal law. This analysis requires the application of a constitutional principle that reaches far beyond the scope of the Right to Bear Arms; it calls into play the vertical separation of powers and the rights belonging to state sovereigns described in the Tenth Amendment. The comment will proceed as follows. Part II will address the constitutionality of House Bill 2340, compared against other kinds of legislation and in light of case law. It will be argued that the …

The All Students Initiative, Anti-Bullying And Athletics For Home-Schooled Children: Education Reform In The 2013 General Assembly Session, Ashley Allen

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

In 2012, Virginia Governor Robert F. McDonnell announced "The Governor's K-12 Education Reform Summit: Investing in Students Today, Creating the Workforce of Tomorrow. " With this announcement, the Governor praised the Commonwealth's public school system while underscoring the need for improvement by stating, "Until every child, in every zip code is guaranteed access to a quality education, we have not done our job." The Governor's summit brought legislators, education stakeholders, and policymakers into one room to discuss issues facing the K-12 education system, such as teacher pay, educational choice, technology and innovation, and workforce development." At the summit, the Governor …

The Grapes Of Wrath: Encouraging Fruitful Collaborations Between Local Governments And Farm Wineries In The Commonwealth, Andrew E. Tarne

Law Student Publications

While there is fairly substantial federal regulation in the field of wine law, this essay's scope will be limited to the interplay of Virginia's state and local laws that affect wineries close to home. Within that scope, this essay's purpose is threefold. First, it will highlight the key legislation and ordinances that affect farm wineries. Second, it will discuss the interplay between state and local level regulations, concluding that the General Assembly has intended to retain near exclusive regulatory powers over farm wineries. Third, it will briefly analyze the impact of the wine industry on three Virginia counties, concluding that …