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This front page story was very interesting to me, because over the years I just knew, many stupid things happening in my village, like these big apartment buildings going up all over near rail road stations, for one example, was dictated by the state.
And the states are dictated by the federal government. And our local domestic USA federal government has been dictated to by self elected special interests, non governmental global organizations.
So seeing a push back from the “little guy towns” is refreshing to me. And another sign of reversal and special interests “not getting away with“ the things they used to. This is why they assassinated Trump. They don’t want things to change. But it’s a slow evolution transition from wrong to right going on.
parts:
ALBANY — Nine towns are suing to stop the state from controlling how more than $1 billion will be spent in settlements from opioid manufacturers who were accused of contributing to a statewide crisis of addiction and death. Eight of the towns are on Long Island.
The constitutional clash between the power of the state and the “home rule” protections of local government involves a 2021 state law. The measure requires money from settlements and enforcement actions “must be used to address the harms caused by drug use and by the ways in which drug laws have been enforced.”
The towns want to spend the funds in any way they see fit beyond opioid programs, because so many other areas of their town budgets were tapped to contend with the crisis.
“It’s supposed to be unrestricted funds,” said David Grossman, a Huntington attorney hired by the towns, although he said “some of them will use it for drug programs.”
The towns accuse the state of violating the “home rule” provision of the state constitution, which limits the state’s power to overrule local government actions. The lawsuit also accuses the state of violating the towns’ right of free speech under the U.S. Constitution because they are prohibited from litigation to assert their rights.
https://www.newsday.com/news/region-state/long-island-towns-state-opioid-settlements-vndayvkr