What is Public Policy? Public policy can be defined most simply as the business of governments – what they do and do not do.Government policy can be broken down into three levels: policy choices, policy outputs and policyimpacts.

What is Public Policy? Public policy can be defined most simply as the business of governments – what they do and do not do.Government policy can be broken down into three levels: policy choices, policy outputs and policyimpacts.

Policy choices are decisions made by politicians, civil servants, or others that use power toaffect the lives of citizens. Policy outputs mean taking choices and putting them into action like spendingmoney, hiring people, or writing regulations that affect the economy and society. Policy impacts refer tothe effects of choices and outputs on citizens – are people richer/poorer, safer/in danger,healthier/sicker? It should be noted that the realm of public policy and what society perceives as governmentresponsibility has grown substantially over the past sixty years. Over 4.3 million people currently workfor the federal government (1.5+ million are in the military). Federal government spending currentlyaccounts for about 22 percent of US gross domestic product (GDP) or $3.5 trillion in 2014. Two recentpieces of legislation further broadened the role of government. The first was the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act in response to the housing and financial crisis of2008. This created the Troubled Asset Relief Program (“TARP funds”) so the government could stabilizethe housing market by spending $700 billion in public funds to purchase assets within the private sector,including many mortgage-backed securities. The second was the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (“ObamaCare”) to reform the UShealth care system. This expanded health insurance coverage to 25 million more Americans through acombination of public programs like Medicaid and private coverage subsidies. The estimate cost ofhealth care reform is $1.3 trillion in public funds over ten years. We will talk about both policy reforms in much greater detail in the coming weeks. Policies emerge from a large number of programs, legislative intentions, and organizational interactionsthat affect the daily lives of citizens. Very few are decided and executed by a single governmentprogram. In fact, different levels of government (federal vs. state and local) conflict over policies anddifferent federal agencies conflict with each other. Constitutional Distribution of Power Federalism is defined as the distribution of power between the federal government and each of the 50states. Delegated powers are outlined in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. These powers belong tothe federal government exclusively and include the power to regulate interstate commerce, maketreaties with foreign nations, raise arms and declare war. Reserved powers (everything else) are left tothe states and the people. The Tenth Amendment explains, “The powers not delegated to the UnitedStates by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or tothe people.” Concurrent powers also exist and are responsibilities that are shared between both thefederal and state governments. Finally, there are powers denied – inalienable rights granted to thecitizens of the United States through the Bill of Rights that cannot be taken away by any form ofgovernment. While federalism is a key construct in historic documents like the Constitution, it is a concept that isconstantly evolving. The boundaries between federal and state powers are not clearly outlined, causingconflicting policy positions at times. It appears that the federal government is growing in power andleaving smaller matters to be handled by state governments. Increasing Federal Power There is sufficient evidence that the federal government is continuing to grow in strength. TheSupremacy Clause in Article VI, Clause 2 of the Constitution addresses federal power: “This Constitution,and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, orwhich shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land;and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any stateto the Contrary notwithstanding.” Federal law trumps state laws if there is a conflict (e.g., legalization of medical marijuana by certainstates, despite federal drug policies); however, this only applies if the federal government is acting withinthe realm of constitutionally authorized powers, which is at the core of this debate. Where are the limitsand boundaries of federal power? This can be particularly troublesome in a crisis – think about thefederal and state response to Hurricane Katrina. Coercive federalism describes the practice of creating federal mandates on state issues typically handledat a local level as well as controlling the funding through tools like federal grant programs. As individualsbecome more dependent on certain programs, the state government must deal with increasing servicedemands and ever-tightening budgets, which leads to even more federal intervention. Unfundedmandates are simply policy positions created by the federal government without the associated moniesprovided to the state. An example of an unfunded mandate would be the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This civil rightslaw forbids discrimination against those with physical or mental impairments but does not provide clearguidelines for “reasonable accommodation” of such individuals. Moreover, the law does not addressconditions of implementation or provide sources of funding for im

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