The front page of Sunday’s Virginian-Pilot contained a story about the abandoned homes in South Hampton Roads older cities, Norfolk and Portsmouth. Abandoned homes decrease surrounding property values and are magnets for crime. The ability of the cities to address the problem is hampered by that old standby, the Dillon Rule:
Wilmington, Del., has reduced its stock of 1,400 abandoned houses by 22 percent in the past four years through an aggressive program that fines owners annually, starting at $500 and increasing to more than $5,000 if they leave their houses empty for a decade.
[…]
In Virginia, a program like Wilmington’s is currently impossible. State law prohibits cities from fining property owners and limits vacant housing registry fees to $25 a year – an amount set in 1993.
[…]
Several years ago, Virginia First Cities Coalition, a lobbying organization for 15 of the state’s core municipalities, unsuccessfully pushed for legislation that would have increased the fee to register vacant property.
A similar measure, which would have set the fee at $100, died in a subcommittee during the last General Assembly session.
[…]
Legislators don’t realize how much abandoned houses hurt communities, said Rachel Flynn, Richmond’s director of community development.
“Most of these legislators don’t live where there’s blight,” Flynn said. “It’s simple math: The votes aren’t there for the people who actually experience this and live in these neighborhoods.”
Now, somebody tell me again how it is that someone who doesn’t have this issue should be making the decision for those of us who do. I’m glad that they don’t have the problem, but to tie the hands of the localities that do is unconscionable.
The Dillon Rule needs to go. Localities deserve to make local decisions.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Vivian, your comments are right on the money.
I expect that Judge Dillon’s legacy will be with us for quite some time. What incentive to our legislators have to lessen their own power?
Brian – that is the crux of the people. The legislature will never vote to reduce their own power – unless we elect folks with that specific criteria in mind. It is certainly one of the first questions that I ask General Assembly candidates.
And they all nod sagely and agree with you wholeheartedly — until they are actually elected.
What was broken in Virginia law that caused the GA to adopt the Dillon rule? Is it in line with the Constitution? I’m not a lawyer but if the Dillon rule were in conflict with the Constitution, it could be struck down. These rulings happen frequently.
Dillon’s Rule actually originates in the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gives the states all the power, except that expressly granted to the federal government within the Constitution. The United States Supreme Court has affirmed Dillon’s Rule twice, kind of. It’s really not Dillon’s Rule that people don’t like, it’s the Tenth Amendment’s allocation of authority to the states. The United States Constitution fails to mention local governments. The United States Supreme Court twice affirmed the state’s almost absolute authority over local governments. See http://www.brookings.edu/es/urban/publications/dillonsrule.htm for more information. Finally, Dillon’s Rule is not a legislative rule. It’s a rule of statutory construction adopted by courts.
Interesting in that I’ve not ever heard that explanation before. I knew that the courts affirmed it as mentioned in this Wikipedia entry.
Nevertheless, my understanding is that Virginia is only one of a handful of states that continues to operate under the rule, the others having moved on to adopt home rule.
Now if the courts would just get the feds back under the 10th Amendment….
Vivian,
It depends on how you define home rule. I think that only five or six states retain the Dillon Rule to the extent that Virginia does. The vast majority have implemented varying degrees of home rule.
No, read the article linked in my prior post. Thirty-nine states use Dillon’s Rule. Only 9 states have repudiated Dillon’s Rule (I can’t figure Florida out).
I haven’t seen anyone try to measure the extent to which a state applies Dillon’s Rule. The rule is what it is. There are no gradations.
Recent wetlands and other cases have seen the courts use the Tenth Amendment to reign in the feds. The commerce clause can be stretched only so far.
I have a paper coming out sometime soon with Brookings that measures local government land use autonomy. I think you’ll be surprised where Virginia comes out.
Jesse
This (pdf)is a well-done report on the Dillon Rule.
Like Brian, I understood that Virginia was one of only a handful of states that interprets the rule so strictly. I cannot locate a specific link on that right this minute.
I see that your work is cited in numerous reports on the rule, Jesse. So as the expert on it, please weigh in on 2 things:
1. Why you think the legislatures continue to adhere to it.
2. Whether you believe it hinders the localities.
One of my earlier papers on Dillon’s Rule cited the best available authority to say that only a handful of states used Dillon’s Rule. However, after I did the extensive research that backs the Brookings paper, I found 39. The Brookings Report is the most detailed piece on Dillon’s Rule to date.
To try to answer your questions:
1. Several reasons. Retaining control, promoting uniformity of regulation, etc. Imagine a business having to comply with 120 different rules in Virginia! For land use, localities tend to be parochial, which often leads to exclusionary zoning and discrimination. State level rules tend to be less discriminatory.
2. No, not at all. The state legislature can give localities all the authority it wants. Dillon’s Rule only comes into play when the courts have to interpret unclear grants. Virginia local governments have LOTS of authority (maybe too much when it comes to land use- lots of exclusionary zoning in Virginia).
Ah, but therein lies the rub. Virginia’s legislature wants to keep the power for themselves. The article that this post is the subject of is a clear demonstration of that.
And, it gives the localities cover when they don’t want to do something. We’ve seen that in Norfolk.
There is something to be said for state level control on certain items. No doubt Virginia would not have been named the best state for business otherwise. However, when it comes to dealing with a lot of local problems, such as the one in the linked article, it seems just heavy handed.
Vivian,
Jesse’s point on the Dillon Rule being a rule of statutory construction is the one I was trying to make some time back. I am glad that he has been able to more clearly elucidate the point I was trying to make.