"Cities of [specific population figure] or more population" state laws

[ixnay]

On page 66 of https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=1487.1625 , reference was made to New York State's law enforcing "no turn on red" in cities of >_1,000,000 in population (i.e., New York City).

Does the Empire State have similar laws for other things?  I imagine every state has some laws with population thresholds that must be reached before they are triggered.  And how/when/why did this phenomenon start?

ixnay

[Revive 755]

Illinois uses that method for either limiting laws to only Chicago and/or Cook County.  I believe there is at least one law that the population figure is used so the law is effective elsewhere in Illinois but not in Chicago or Cook County.

[1995hoo]

I know Ohio has a law that allows the state to seek dissolution of a village that has fewer than 150 people if the State Auditor finds it provides little or no public services and has a pattern of wrongdoing or incompetence. The law was enacted so the state could get rid of New Rome.

[briantroutman]

Pennsylvania divides cities into classes on the basis of population, but the classes are such that only one city falls into the first class (Philadelphia), one is second class (Pittsburgh), and basically all others fit into the third class. (Scranton is in its own odd hybrid class.) Pennsylvania's constitution prevents the state legislature from enacting legislation singling out a specific municipality, but the state is allowed to pass legislation pertaining to specific city classes. So in other words, it would be unconstitutional for the state to pass a law making it illegal for Philadelphia to enact a property tax on automobiles (for example), but the state could say "Cities of the first class are prohibited..."  and it would be perfectly constitutional.

[cpzilliacus]

Virginia has a fair number of laws that relate to population of a county, city or town.  Usually that something in the Code of Virginia only applies to jurisdictions having a certain population or greater (or sometimes less, or sometimes between a lower and upper bound).

[tdindy88]

When Indianapolis merged with Marion County in the 1970s the state legislature passed a bill that first-class cities could merge with their county (in fact I think they have to merge if they are a first class city.) At the time the threshold was 250,000 for a city's population to become a first-class city. When Fort Wayne was getting close to that threshold the state changed the number to 600,000 so that only Indianapolis would remain a first-class city and so Fort Wayne couldn't consolidate with their county. They can merge voluntarily though. With Indy as a first-class city they have a unique city council structure.

Second class cities have a population of 35,000 up to 600,000 and are designated by the size of their city council, a nine-person council. Third class cities below 35,000 have seven-person councils. That is if the community chooses to become a city, it can remain a town despite its population.

[mgk920]

Back in the early 1980s, the Wisconsin legislature hopped to it to ensure that only Milwaukee would fit the definition of 'city of the First Class' due to Madison exceeding the 250K population threshold and several of its surrounding townships starting to take steps to incorporate themselves as cities, as allowed under state law for townships contiguous to 'First Class' cities. One (Fitchburg) did get through before the legislature could act, but the others were successfully stopped.

Mike

[jeffandnicole]

In New Jersey, there appears to be some laws regarding counties or municipalities of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd class.  When it comes down to the chapters regarding highways, transportation, etc, nothing is referred to explicitly regarding those classes.

[Pink Jazz]

Obviously, some states have a population cutoff on whether or not to allow logo signs on freeways.  The typical standard is 100,000, but in California it is as low as 5000.

Prior to 2013 when ADOT expanded their logo sign program to urban areas, I believe the population cutoff was 100,000, however, the rules were not really clear cut; US 60 in Mesa east of the SuperRedTan Interchange, as well as portions of Phoenix north of Loop 303 had logo signs before 2013, yet most of Marana (a town with a population under 40,000) on I-10 west of Tucson did not except at the very last exit before entering Pinal County.

Now with the urban logo sign program, the rule seems to be that cities with a population of under 50,000 fall under the rural program for logo sign pricing, while those of 50,000 or higher fall under the urban program.  The Flagstaff and Yuma areas were previously part of the rural program, but are now part of the urban program.  I expect Casa Grande will also be migrated to the urban program after the next Census.

[GaryV]

Michigan had several laws for cities of a high population, meant to pinpoint Detroit without naming it specifically.  They had to move the limit down as Detroit's population declined.  For example, 1M doesn't cut it anymore.

[ixnay]

Michigan had several laws for cities of a high population, meant to pinpoint Detroit without naming it specifically.  They had to move the limit down as Detroit's population declined.  For example, 1M doesn't cut it anymore.

That's really the kind of laws I was asking about - laws worded to pinpoint a city or cities without identifying them (like the laws GaryV mentioned or NYS's no turn on red law aimed at NYC).  Sorry for not wording it this way in the OP. 

Surely *every state* has a law targeting certain municipalities without ID'ing them?  Targeting but not identifying counties (parishes in Louisiana), too?  Hm?

ixnay

[wxfree]

Michigan had several laws for cities of a high population, meant to pinpoint Detroit without naming it specifically.  They had to move the limit down as Detroit's population declined.  For example, 1M doesn't cut it anymore.

That's really the kind of laws I was asking about - laws worded to pinpoint a city or cities without identifying them (like the laws GaryV mentioned or NYS's no turn on red law aimed at NYC).  Sorry for not wording it this way in the OP. 

Surely *every state* has a law targeting certain municipalities without ID'ing them?  Targeting but not identifying counties (parishes in Louisiana), too?  Hm?

ixnay

Texas is proficient at that.  Our constitution prohibits special and local laws for many things.  This is why laws don't apply to particular cities or counties.  Instead of amending the constitution, taking the legitimate route to change something that isn't working, the legislature performs logical gymnastics to get around the intent of the law.  They may make a law that applies only to a city with a population of more than XX that is the county seat of a county that also includes a city with a population below XX and is adjacent to a county with a population below XX and also adjacent to an international border.  It violates the constitution, but isn't a technical violation because it includes every city in the state that matches the absurdly specific description.  slashrantover

Other states may have similar provisions that require descriptions rather than naming.  According to the Wickerpedia article on special legislation it's fairly common, with varying degrees of strictness of the prohibition.

[cl94]

I know Ohio has a law that allows the state to seek dissolution of a village that has fewer than 150 people if the State Auditor finds it provides little or no public services and has a pattern of wrongdoing or incompetence. The law was enacted so the state could get rid of New Rome.

And that is the only time it has been used. The village existed for no reason other than to collect speeding tickets because the limit dropped by 10 MPH for 4 blocks.

New York has at least 3 classes based on population, with New York City being its own (>1,000,000) and Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers being in the second (>100,000). The most obvious laws governing the top 2 classes other than the aforementioned ones concerning only NYC are related to public education. The top 2 classes have school districts that are part of the municipal budget and residents cannot thus vote on the school budget, while these 5 districts also cannot be part of the state BOCES programs (typically combined vocational programs). If Albany ever gets back over 125K and the law isn't changed, the city's schools would become part of the city government.

New York, like New England, has very strong home rule powers, so these laws are limited.

[lordsutch]

It's a fairly common thing in states that forbid laws applying to a particular city or county. My recollection is that Tennessee has some rather artfully constructed ones; to avoid the "Detroit problem" they usually specify a particular decennial census so the law continues to apply to a municipality even if it moves outside the population band in the future.

[ftballfan]

Michigan has laws preventing car dealerships from opening on Sundays in counties with populations over 130,000 (assuming smaller counties wouldn't have enough business to warrant car dealerships opening on Sundays)
This only applies to the following counties: Berrien, Calhoun, Genesee, Ingham, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Kent, Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Muskegon, Oakland, Ottawa, Saginaw, St. Clair, Washtenaw, Wayne
I only know of one dealership statewide that is open on Sundays: Sundance in St. Johns (Clinton County - population 75,382) and Grand Ledge (Eaton County - population 107,759). I know that because they advertise that fact on many different radio stations as far away as Traverse City

[DandyDan]

I remember reading somewhere Nebraska essentially made it illegal for Omaha to annex land outside Douglas County.  It may also apply to Lincoln in Lancaster County, but essentially, it only applies to Omaha, since Lincoln doesn't come close to the borders of Lancaster County.  Every other city or village can annex land outside its county, but not Omaha.  This accounts for the fact that much of the city of Bellevue within a mile of the Douglas County border (Harrison Street) feels like the part of Omaha that just happens to be in Sarpy County.