Government Law
Government law covers a broad area in the legal field. U.S. federal government law addresses government interactions on a national scale, and is largely composed of administrative law and constitutional law, while state and local government law deals largely with how government operates on the state and local level, with state and city governments and agencies, as well as interactions with businesses and private citizens.
The U.S. federal government’s three branches (the legislative branch, the judicial branch, and the executive branch) shares control of the country with state governments. State governments are made up of their own legislative, judicial and executive branches and are given a fair share of autonomy to create laws for their individual states, although federal law holds precedence. State law also establishes and regulates local government for cities, towns, counties, and other communities.
Local government law addresses a variety of issues, topics and legal areas, including:
- Sunshine laws for public access to government records and processes
- Municipal planning for land use and zoning law
- Licensing and regulatory law
- Labor rights, discrimination, wage laws and FLSA, FMLA, ADA and more with regards to employment and personnel law for government workers and employers
- Utilities and telecommunication law for government entities such as gas, water & electric companies, cell phone towers and easements
- Property taxes, assessments, user fees and other taxation law for city revenues
- Eminent domain law; environmental law as it applies to government regulations
- HRA’s and other housing agencies for development, redevelopment and affordable housing issues
- Tax abatements and other forms of public finance; and government contracts.
Changes may occur in this area of law. The information provided is brought to you as a public service, and is intended to help you better understand the law in general. It is not intended to be legal advice regarding your particular problem or substitute for the advice of a lawyer.