Special legislation (also called
local legislation) is a legal term of art used in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
which refers to acts of a state legislature which apply only to a specific
municipalityA municipality is an administrative entity composed of a clearly defined territory and its population and commonly denotes a city, town, or village, or a small grouping of them. A municipality is typically governed by a mayor and a city council or municipal council.The notion of municipality...
(or a group thereof) which is identified by name in the legislation.
In some
stateA U.S. state is any one of 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government . Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile...
s, such as
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a state located in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States...
, the state
constitutionA constitution is a set of rules for government—often codified as a written document—that establishes principles of an autonomous political entity. In the case of countries, this term refers specifically to a national constitution defining the fundamental political principles, and establishing the...
prohibits special legislation; though it is often possible for the legislature to evade this restriction by describing the community in great detail without mentioning its name.
Special legislation (also called
local legislation) is a legal term of art used in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
which refers to acts of a state legislature which apply only to a specific
municipalityA municipality is an administrative entity composed of a clearly defined territory and its population and commonly denotes a city, town, or village, or a small grouping of them. A municipality is typically governed by a mayor and a city council or municipal council.The notion of municipality...
(or a group thereof) which is identified by name in the legislation.
In some
stateA U.S. state is any one of 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government . Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile...
s, such as
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a state located in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States...
, the state
constitutionA constitution is a set of rules for government—often codified as a written document—that establishes principles of an autonomous political entity. In the case of countries, this term refers specifically to a national constitution defining the fundamental political principles, and establishing the...
prohibits special legislation; though it is often possible for the legislature to evade this restriction by describing the community in great detail without mentioning its name. (For example, Pennsylvania law defines certain powers of "cities of the second class", which was originally defined specifically to apply only to
PittsburghPittsburgh is a city in and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and the second largest city in the state. Its population was 334,563 at the 2000 census; by 2006, it was estimated to have fallen to 312,819. The population of the seven-county metropolitan area is...
; the lower threshold of this class has been revised downward to accommodate a decline in Pittsburgh's population, with the effect that other cities not originally envisioned have become entitled to second-class status.)
At the opposite end of the spectrum, in some states -- particularly the
New EnglandNew England is a region of the United States. It is located at the northeastern corner of the US, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, Canada and the state of New York, consisting of the modern U.S...
states -- the state legislature has
plenaryPlenary is an adjective related to the noun plenum carrying a general connotation of fullness.Plenary may refer to:*Plenary session or meeting, the part of a conference when all members of all parties are in attendance...
authority over municipalities, and may create or abolish them, or change their governing laws, at will. These states typically have very weak traditions of
home ruleHome rule is where constituent parts of a state are given greater self-government within the administrative purview of the central government....
, such that any significant legal change to a city or town's charter or governing laws, or an agreement between municipalities, must be authorized by an act of the legislature. There is usually a legal process by which a community may petition the legislature for such a change, and the outcome of this process, if the legislature consents, is special legislation.
In the middle are states like
GeorgiaGeorgia is a state in the United States. One of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution, it had been the last of the Thirteen Colonies to be established, in 1733. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January...
, where the state legislature must
charterA charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...
any new city, but does not have the power to directly change a charter. The city of
Sandy SpringsSandy Springs, Georgia, is a city in north Georgia, incorporated in December 2005. It is the affluent suburb just north of Atlanta and is the eighth-largest city in the state. According to the US Census Bureau, the 2008 estimated population was 82,674...
, one of the largest in Georgia, languished unincorporated for years despite local efforts due to the
politicsPolitics is a process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic and religious institutions...
involved in this method, which prevented the affected people from voting on their own fate. Sandy Springs was finally incorporated in December 2005. The
Georgia General AssemblyThe Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, being composed of the Georgia House of Representatives and the Georgia Senate....
may also revoke a city charter, as it did
en masse in 1995 from every city which did not offer at least three distinct services to its citizens.
The term "special legislation" may also apply in some states to legislation which names a particular person, as in appointment to a government position or conveyance of
real propertyIn the common law, real property refers to one of the two main classes of property, the other being personal property. Real property generally encompasses land, land improvements resulting from human effort including buildings and machinery sited on land, and various property rights over the...
between an individual and the state, or between an individual and an unincorporated community.