Everything you need to know about ranked-choice voting in one spot. Click to learn more!

Congressional consent

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Interstate Compacts project

Congressional consent is a term related to interstate compacts. The United States Constitution asserts that states may not enter into compacts with other states except in cases of emergency, such as a foreign invasion. However, the Constitution does not explicitly forbid the practice of forming such agreements or compacts. Instead, unless the agreement changes the balance of power between states and the federal government, or interferes with the powers of the federal government, congressional consent is not needed. This was clarified by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Virginia v. Tennessee (1893). In those cases where congressional consent is needed, receiving the consent of Congress means that the compact is simply accepted as federal law.[1][2]

Compact Clause

Congressional consent has its roots in the U.S. Constitution. Article I, section 10, also referred to as the Compact Clause, provides the original language:[2][3]

“ No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.[4] ”

As mentioned above, although this language appears to prohibit any interstate compact without congressional consent, it has only applied in practice to compacts that would affect the distribution of powers outlined in the rest of the Constitution.[1]

Process

Consent is given in the same manner as passing a bill through Congress. The House or Senate may introduce the compact as a bill, which would then need to be passed in both legislatures before requiring the president's signature. After consent is given, Congress maintains the right to make changes to the compact. Revoking consent must follow a different set of procedures, however. Two Supreme Court cases ruled that Congress could not withdraw consent from a compact unless the compact language specifically allowed such action. Because Congress can add language in the form of amendments, the legislature can effectively give itself the power to revoke consent. As of 2016, the Supreme Court had not ruled if such a maneuver was legal. Rather, it has said that revoking consent after previously giving it "would be damaging to the very concept of interstate compacts."[1]

Types of consent

The clause above is the only language in the Constitution that specifically refers to interstate compacts. That said, there are three main ways Congress gives consent to an interstate compact:

  1. Explicit consent: A compact or agreement is drafted and adopted by a given number of states, and then submitted to Congress for approval. This type of consent is usually seen in cases of boundary disputes between states. Some compacts seek explicit consent even if not required for that type of compact in order to avoid issues with federal approval later.[1]
  2. Implicit consent: This type of consent is given when Congress takes action that generally agrees with the terms of a compact. For instance, legislators could pass a law with the same or similar content to a recent compact, or craft legislation that pursues the same end results of the compact. For instance, if a compact among three states seeks to create a commission to oversee cleanup of a common body of water, Congress could pass a law urging those states to coordinate that cleanup.[1]
  3. Preemptive consent: This form of consent is similar to implicit consent, but Congress is the group that begins the process. Congress could adopt legislation that urges states to enter into a compact to work towards a particular goal. Consent is given before a compact is officially drafted, meaning that Congress loses its ability to review the compact's objectives once adopted by the states.[1]

Compacts with congressional consent

The following list contains compacts tracked by Ballotpedia that were found to have congressional consent. Please see the individual compacts for more information.

  1. Colorado River Compact
  2. Columbia River Compact
  3. Connecticut River Atlantic Salmon Compact
  4. Connecticut River Valley Flood Control Compact
  5. Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad Compact
  6. Delaware River and Bay Authority Compact
  7. Delaware River Basin Compact
  8. Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Compact
  9. Delaware River Port Authority Compact
  10. Delaware Valley Urban Area Compact
  11. Driver License Compact
  12. Emergency Management Assistance Compact
  13. Great Lakes Basin Compact
  14. Gulf States Marine Fisheries Compact
  15. Historic Chattahoochee Compact
  16. Interstate Compact for Mutual Military Aid in an Emergency
  17. Interstate Compact for Juveniles
  18. Agreement on Detainers
  19. Interstate Compact on Adoption and Medical Assistance
  20. Interstate Compact to Conserve Oil and Gas
  21. Interstate Corrections Compact
  22. Interstate Rail Passenger Network Compact
  23. Klamath River Compact
  24. La Plata River Compact
  25. Maine-New Hampshire Interstate School Compact
  26. Mid-Atlantic Forest Fire Protection Compact
  27. Midwest Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact
  28. Missouri-Nebraska Boundary Compact
  29. New England Interstate Corrections Compact
  30. New England Higher Education Compact
  31. New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Compact
  32. New Jersey-Pennsylvania Turnpike Bridge Compact
  33. New York-New Jersey Port Authority Compact of 1921
  34. Atlantic Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Compact
  35. Northwest Compact on Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management
  36. Northwest Wildland Fire Protection Agreement
  37. Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority Compact
  38. Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Compact
  39. Pacific Marine Fisheries Compact
  40. Pecos River Compact
  41. Palisades Interstate Park Compact
  42. Potomac Highlands Airport Authority Compact
  43. Potomac River Compact of 1958
  44. Potomac Valley Compact
  45. Pymatuning Lake Compact
  46. Railroad Passenger Transportation Compact
  47. Red River Compact
  48. Republican River Compact
  49. Rio Grande Interstate Compact
  50. Rocky Mountain Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact
  51. Sabine River Compact
  52. Snake River Compact
  53. South Central Forest Fire Protection Compact
  54. South Platte River Compact
  55. Southeast Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact
  56. Southern States Energy Compact
  57. Southwestern Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact
  58. Susquehanna River Basin Compact
  59. Taxation of Motor Fuels Consumed by Interstate Buses
  60. Tennessee Interstate Furlough Compact
  61. Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Development Compact
  62. Tennessee River Basin Water Pollution Control Compact
  63. Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact
  64. Tri-State Sanitation Compact
  65. Upper Colorado River Basin Compact
  66. Upper Niobrara River Compact
  67. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Compact
  68. Western Corrections Compact
  69. Western Regional Higher Education Compact
  70. Wheeling Creek Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Compact
  71. Bi-State Development Compact
  72. New Hampshire-Vermont Interstate Public Water Supply Compact
  73. California-Nevada Compact for Jurisdiction on Interstate Waters
  74. Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact
  75. Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Compact
  76. Bear River Compact
  77. Quad Cities Interstate Metropolitan Authority Compact
  78. New Hampshire-Vermont Interstate School Compact
  79. New Hampshire-Vermont Interstate Sewage and Waste Disposal Facilities Compact
  80. Surplus Lines Insurance Multi-State Compliance Compact
  81. Animas-La Plata Project Compact
  82. Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin Compact
  83. Arkansas River Basin Compact of 1970
  84. Arkansas River Compact of 1949
  85. Arkansas River Compact of 1965
  86. Belle Fourche River Compact
  87. Big Blue River Compact
  88. Breaks Interstate Park Compact
  89. Canadian River Compact
  90. Central Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact
  91. Central Midwest Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact
  92. Columbia River Gorge Compact
  93. Mississippi-Louisiana-Alabama Rapid Rail Transit Compact
  94. Thames River Valley Flood Control Compact
  95. Buffalo and Fort Erie Bridge Compact
  96. Portsmouth-Kittery Bridge Compact

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Council of State Governments Knowledge Center, "Congressional consent and the permission for states to enter into interstate compacts," accessed February 15, 2016
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 American Bar Association, "The case for interstate compact APA," accessed February 15, 2016
  3. ↑ U.S. Congress Annotated Constitution, "ArtI.S10.C3.3 Compacts Clause," accessed March 21, 2022
  4. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
v • e
Interstate compacts
Topics
States
Other
Retrieved from "https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=Congressional_consent&oldid=9275060"