Local Policy; And it’s Challenges
Policy is what shapes the everyday functions of society; from traffic regulations to commerce even as granularly as the maintenance of your property. These policies are forged and crafted by policymakers, and the most basic level of policy you can reach are ordinances. An ordinance is a local regulation enacted by locally elected officials, and these can offer a number of challenges due to an increasing number of preemption laws at the state level.
St. Louis is no stranger to these challenges, facing preemption from the Missouri Legislator and their ever tightening snare. Namely a significant challenge we as a City faced in recent years is the battle for an increased minimum wage. The Board of Aldermen passed an ordinance authorizing a $15 minimum wage with the City of St. Louis, and we subsequently were the defendant in a lawsuit from the Missouri Attorney General.
However, this doesn’t stop our constituency from expecting us to address the issues they care about most. This leads to some creative policy making to fit into the narrow scope left to us at the local level, to put it into perspective:
U.S. Constitution > Federal Laws > Missouri Constitution > State Laws > City Charter > Local Ordinances
To ensure we aren’t opening up the City to potential litigation we have to make sure our policy fits into the parameters of all these levels of regulation. And often leads to creative wording and policy efforts which can be seen with the approach we take to gun regulation in the City (BB 29: 23-24s Sponsor: Ald. Cara Spencer). Though creativity can be important at the local level, so is thoughtfulness. While the intentions may be good, the impact of the policy is what matters most.
A good example of intention conflicting with potential impact is a board bill introduced this session by Alderwoman Pam Boyd (BB 2: 24-25s). This legislation was introduced with the intention of stopping individuals from concealing their identity via facial coverings in public. However, there is concern over the potential of this to turn into another “stop and frisk” law due to the current popularity of the “shiesty”. Also known as a “balaclava” the shiesty has risen in popularity among young black men, because of the association with the rapper “Pooh Shiesty”. So, while the intention of this policy is to improve public safety there could be unintended consequences.
As we’ve explored there are a number of challenges faced by policy at the local level, while they attempt to shape laws and regulations for the betterment of their community. These challenges may go unnoticed by the general constituency and make it seem that their elected officials aren’t doing anything to address their concerns.
Sources:
City of St. Louis website| Laws of the City, Sponsor: Cara Spencer: https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/city-laws/upload/legislative/boardbills/committee-substitute-amended/BB29CSAA%20Combined%204.pdf
City of St. Louis website| Laws of the City, Sponsor: Pam Boyd:
