Mandate Reimbursement Measures in the States

Local-government associations often advocate constitutional or statutory reimbursement requirements as a solution for unfunded state mandates, predicating advocacy on the assumption that such a requirement will be effective once in place. However, the experience of the states with mandate reimbursement requirements varies widely. Much of the variation can be attributed to legislative flexibility in implementation language and by technical exemptions courts offer. Rather than offering a solution for one of the more contentious issues in state-local relations, mandate reimbursement requirements can sometimes create a new set of problems.