UNFUNDED MANDATES REFORM ACT - 1996 AND BEYOND

The first year of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act was greeted with gr eat expectations in much of the intergovernmental community. Slate and local governments did, in fact, realize some important victories in t he Congress, both in softening the impact of new mandates end in rever sing some existing ones. Viewed historically, these achievements certa inly break with established trends. Yet, 1996 did not prove to be a wa tershed year. Significant new mandates and preemptions were passed, wh ile slate and local victories were largely achieved in modifying how n ew mandates were to be implemented, not in determining whether new man dates would be enacted.