3 ms·

Hmm, unrelated but I hadn't realised you had laws at the county level too in the USA. I assumed it was federal and state only.

by ilek 11y ago

Zikes 11y ago
Goes all the way down to city level, even.
- jsprogrammer 11y ago
  Some companies and private organizations will even create "by-law"s in an attempt to control you. Uh, why does this comment have a negative score?
  - Zikes 11y ago
    Yep, a homeowner's association could put a lien on your house if you broke their by-law about hanging a sports team flag on your front porch, for instance.
- Amorymeltzer 11y ago
  In NYC, which is of course an outlier, the counties (each borough) are smaller and fall below the city level.
jerf 11y ago
And also a city/municipality/township level as well.
- levemi 11y ago
  It gets even more specific than that, while home owner's associations don't generate laws that lead to criminal penalties when broken, the rules HOA's create are legally binding and have probably a significant impact on many people's quality of life and every day freedom. They are very personal rules and you can get in trouble for stupid things like leaving your garage door open or how you hang your laundry. People living with HOA's have opted for trading in freedoms for slightly higher property values.
  - dawnerd 11y ago
    My, soon to be ex, HOA decided they want to make rules regarding public roads. If they catch you parking on said public road, they will inspect your garage and issue heavy fines if you're storing anything in it.
  - dragonwriter 11y ago
    > It gets even more specific than that, while home owner's associations don't generate laws that lead to criminal penalties when broken, the rules HOA's create are legally binding and have probably a significant impact on many people's quality of life and every day freedom. HOA rules aren't laws of any kind; they are legally binding only because you have entered into a contract to obey them. > People living with HOA's have opted for trading in freedoms for slightly higher property values. Or, they have opted to live in modern homes: HOAs are usually established by developers, and virtually all new development (ISTR seeing figures of 80% in CA) is subject to HOAs.
tgb 11y ago
How influential counties are varies greatly from state to state. Where I'm from, there's no unincorporated land, it's all in towns. So the counties are relatively unimportant and town government is correspondingly more important. Elsewhere counties are highly influential.
c3534l 11y ago
You can even have sub-county regulations, too. You can have county taxes as well. But unless you're in a big city, they tend not to matter much apart from, like, not being allowed to have couches and garbage on your front lawn or something like that.
charonn0 11y ago
Federal, state, county, and city governments, and special districts (e.g. transit district, school district) all have some degree of legislative power.

Hmm, unrelated but I hadn't realised you had laws at the county level too in the USA. I assumed it was federal and state only.

by ilek 11y ago

Hmm, unrelated but I hadn't realised you had laws at the county level too in the USA. I assumed it was federal and state only.

Zikes 11y ago

Goes all the way down to city level, even.

jsprogrammer 11y ago
Some companies and private organizations will even create "by-law"s in an attempt to control you. Uh, why does this comment have a negative score?
- Zikes 11y ago
  Yep, a homeowner's association could put a lien on your house if you broke their by-law about hanging a sports team flag on your front porch, for instance.
Amorymeltzer 11y ago
In NYC, which is of course an outlier, the counties (each borough) are smaller and fall below the city level.

jerf 11y ago

And also a city/municipality/township level as well.

levemi 11y ago
It gets even more specific than that, while home owner's associations don't generate laws that lead to criminal penalties when broken, the rules HOA's create are legally binding and have probably a significant impact on many people's quality of life and every day freedom. They are very personal rules and you can get in trouble for stupid things like leaving your garage door open or how you hang your laundry. People living with HOA's have opted for trading in freedoms for slightly higher property values.
- dawnerd 11y ago
  My, soon to be ex, HOA decided they want to make rules regarding public roads. If they catch you parking on said public road, they will inspect your garage and issue heavy fines if you're storing anything in it.
- dragonwriter 11y ago
  > It gets even more specific than that, while home owner's associations don't generate laws that lead to criminal penalties when broken, the rules HOA's create are legally binding and have probably a significant impact on many people's quality of life and every day freedom. HOA rules aren't laws of any kind; they are legally binding only because you have entered into a contract to obey them. > People living with HOA's have opted for trading in freedoms for slightly higher property values. Or, they have opted to live in modern homes: HOAs are usually established by developers, and virtually all new development (ISTR seeing figures of 80% in CA) is subject to HOAs.

tgb 11y ago

How influential counties are varies greatly from state to state. Where I'm from, there's no unincorporated land, it's all in towns. So the counties are relatively unimportant and town government is correspondingly more important. Elsewhere counties are highly influential.

c3534l 11y ago

You can even have sub-county regulations, too. You can have county taxes as well. But unless you're in a big city, they tend not to matter much apart from, like, not being allowed to have couches and garbage on your front lawn or something like that.

charonn0 11y ago

Federal, state, county, and city governments, and special districts (e.g. transit district, school district) all have some degree of legislative power.