MUNICIPAL HOME RULE.— Munici pal home rule is the term applied to the power possessed by many American cities to frame and adopt their own charters. It is a power which must be conferred upon municipalities by a provision of the State constitution since the courts have held with practical unanimity that a grant of home rule by the State legislature be an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power.
The constantly increasing demand for home rule which cities in the United States are making is due to the numerous and serious evils that seem to be the inevitable result of the practically complete supremacy over mu nicipal affairs which the legislatures enjoy in three-fourths of our States. In the absence of restrictions in the Federal or State constitu tion the power of the legislature over the city is absolute. Legislatures have not hesitated to exercise this power. They have withheld from cities powers necessary to their development. They have interfered directly and unjustifiably in municipal matters. They have too often treated the revenues, contracts and offices of cities as the legitimate snoils of partisan politics. The problems of municipal government and ad ministration have been left for solution to men competent neither in experience nor training to solve them. Furthermore, the necessity under which cities have labored of seeking continu ously for extensions of power or other modi fications of their charters has resulted in swamping the legislative calendars with an i enormous mass of business, local in signifi cance, to the exclusion of more important mat ters of State-wide concern.
It is these evils which municipal home rule aims to abolish by allowing cities to deal with out interference with their own affairs. It is also urged that a valuable political education is received by the citizens who assume the re sponsibilities of home rule, while at the same tune the system tends to divorce State and local politics, a result greatly to be desired.
Municipal home rule does not, however, set the city free from all State control. A mu nicipality is not only an agency of local self government, but it is also a part of the admin istrative Machinery of the State government. Complete freedom of action for the city is as undesirable in this latter capacity as it is de sirable in the former. The city must serve as the unit through which must be secured the enforcement of State laws relating to health, safety and the suppression of crime, the efficient conduct of elections, the promotion of educa tion and philanthropy, and in all these matters it must be subject to State control. The neces
sity for the steady flow of State revenue ren ders desirable restrictions upon municipal ex travagance in matters of taxation and borrow ing. Municipal home rule, therefore, means merely the right of the city to control its own destinies in matters municipal or local in signifi cance and not the right to interfere with those problems which must concern the welfare of the State at large. To define accprately which functions of the city are municipal in character and which have this State-wide significance has been found to be a practical problem of great difficulty.
The home rule provisions of State constitu tions vary in character. Sometimes home rule is given to all cities, sometimes only to those of a certain population. These provisions have usually been self-executing, but in a few cases the legislature has acted for the purpose of making the grant of home rule effective. Usually the home rule charter is framed by a popularly elected charter commission and be comes effective upon the approval of a majority of those voting upon it. There are, however, cases in which an extraordinary majority of the voters is required or even the subsequent approval of the governor or legislature. These special restrictions are exceptional. Home rule charters commonly provide for their own amendment by means of initiative petition. They are not subject to change at the hands of the State legislature.
In 1918, 12 States in the United States had constitutional provisions giving some or all of their cities municipal home rule. These States and the dates of the home rule grant in each are as follows: Missouri (1875) ; California (1879) ; Washington (1889): Minnesota (1896) ; Colorado (1902) ; Oregon (1906); Oklahoma (1908) • Michigan (1908) • Arizona (1912); Ohio (1912) ; Nebraska (1912) ; Texas (1912) ; Consult Arndt, 'The Emancipation of the American City' (1917); Beard, 'The American City> (1912); Fitzpatrick, E. A., (Experts in Municipal Life' (1916) • Goodnow, 'Municipal Home Rule' (1895); McBain, 'The Law and Practice of Municipal Home Rule' (1916) •, Munro, 'The Government of American Cities' (revised, 1916).