ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines what federal regulations are intended to do, and how one can look at them from several perspectives. It describes the proliferation of regulations affecting state and local governments, identifying the types of regulations that have been imposed. The chapter also discusses the process by which regulations are issued and outlines several approaches that have been taken by administrations to try to ease the regulatory burden. The chapter focuses on regulations that apply to state and local governments, but because many efforts to reduce regulation of businesses also affect state and local governments, it occasionally discusses business deregulation. States and local governments have always resisted or disliked federal regulations, for two main reasons. First, they object to the loss of autonomy made explicit by the regulatory relationship. Second, states and local governments object to the costs of the requirements placed upon them by the federal government.
