A devolution revolution?

• Author: Zimmerman, Christopher
• Position: Major overhaul of state and federal responsibilities expected to occur in 1995

Get ready for the newest "new federalism." With support from governors, Congress and the White House, 1995 could be the year for a major overhaul of federal and state responsibilities.

Talk about who's going to do what - the federal government or the states - and who's going to pay for it has been going on for years. Now, with strong support from many new governors and the new majority in Congress as well as some interest by the White House, 1995 could be the year for a major overhaul through new block grants and program consolidations and possibly even a major "sorting out" of responsibilities between Washington and state capitols.

Republicans have placed a heavy emphasis on "devolution" themes in many aspects of their platform (the "Contract with America"), most notably in welfare reform. For his part, the president, a former governor, has often expressed support for the general principle of consolidating grant programs and giving more authority to the states.

Add to that the increasing pressure to reduce the federal budget, heightened by the debate over the balanced budget constitutional amendment, and the possibility arises that the intergovernmental grant-in-aid system may not be the same by the time the 104th Congress is finished.

From the Robb-Evans Commission of the early 1980s to the National Performance Review report in 1993, proposals have been put forward that would, to varying degrees, realign the fiscal system. Some of these relied upon converting various agglomerations of categorical grant programs into block grants and "devolving" the attendant responsibilities to state government. Others contemplated a grand "swap" of responsibilities between the two levels of government over a variety of program areas.

In his 1991 State of the Union address, then-President Bush called for the conversion of a substantial portion of federal grants to state and local govemments into a broad block grant. This led to a proposal developed by the National Conference of State Legislatures and the National Governors' Association that envisioned a number of large block grants in broad issue areas. The proposal was not acted upon, and no legislation was ever submitted by the Bush administration.

At the outset of the Clinton administration, NCSL and NGA revived their earlier consolidation proposal and suggested the creation of six Federal-State Flexibility Grants. The proposal combined 55 programs totalling almost $13 billion and covered education...