State Governments

Each of the fifty states has its own constitution and a government with three branches, mirroring the federal model: an elected governor heading the executive branch, a legislature that makes state law, and a court system headed by a state supreme court. Forty-nine legislatures have two chambers, while Nebraska has had a single, officially nonpartisan chamber since 1937. Unlike the federal government, most states elect several executive officials separately, such as the attorney general, secretary of state, and treasurer, so power within the executive branch is divided.

States hold the general police power to regulate health, safety, and welfare, and they carry out most of the government functions Americans encounter daily: criminal law and prisons, public schools and universities, roads, licensing of drivers and professionals, family and property law, elections, and, with federal funding, Medicaid and unemployment insurance. They create and oversee counties, cities, and other local governments. Federal grants make up roughly a third of total state spending, and states administer many federal programs under federal rules.

Justice Louis Brandeis wrote in 1932 that a single courageous state may serve as a laboratory and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country, and states have pioneered policies from women's suffrage to welfare reform, marijuana legalization, and data privacy. In recent years most states have had single-party control of the governorship and both legislative chambers, producing widening policy differences on issues such as abortion, guns, taxes, immigration enforcement, and voting rules. Supporters say diversity among states lets citizens choose and policies be tested, while critics say rights should not depend on where a person lives.