Federalism, Constitutionalism and Internationalism

It has been pointed out previously that the federal structure of the Australian Commonwealth in itself and the division of legislative powers between federal and state legislatures under the Constitution constitutes limitations upon the exercise of the treaty-making power as well as upon the legislative power, both federal and state, to implement treaties under Section 51, placitum 29. This proposition thus raises questions of competence of the Australian states in “external affairs” and in the exercise of the treaty-making power proper.1 Hence, a discussion of the legal competence of the states in “external affairs” may appropriately begin with a brief historical introduction.

Canada’s federal system raises challenges for its compliance with international investment law obligations. The federal executive branch holds the power to enter into treaties on behalf of Canada, but treaty implementation depends on a variety of actors within the Canadian federal system, many under provincial jurisdiction. Provinces can take measures that violate Canada’s international investment treaty obligations. The federal executive has no ability to stop them, yet Canada remains liable for such violations internationally. Often, it does not know about the measures until they materialize. Rarely is it able to anticipate all the possible measures that could breach these obligations at the time it signs treaties. International investment arbitration raises specific challenges regarding treaty compliance for States—federal and unitary—both procedurally and substantively. This article examines how Canada’s federal design adds further complexity to this challenge. It proposes a fresh perspective to designing solutions that address these challenges, with the recognition that Canadian federalism offers no foolproof responses.

108 The press to meet mounting social any of these programs would affect problems, combined with budgetary well over a million people. Other pro cutbacks, elimination of programs, imgrams affect even more recipients. For poundment of funds, and scarce reexample, the 1972 changes in Medicaid sources, makes this a critical period (P.L. 92-603) terminated some bene for social welfare and the social work fits for over 20 million low-income profession. If the profession is to recitizens, and an increase in Medicare main viable, more social workers must fees would affect virtually everyone become active as legislative advocates, over age 65, or about 22 million In this article the term legislative adelderly and disabled people.2 vocate refers to any individual, agency, The largest social welfare program or organization who attempts to influis, of course, social security. If Con ence the course of a bill or other gress makes one change in social se legislative measure. curity benefits, which it does nearly The purpose of this article is threeevery year, that change can directly fold: (1) to present data supporting influence the income of 124 million the assertion that this is indeed a critipeople—30 million beneficiaries and cal and perhaps a pivotal period for 94 million workers (whose payroll tax social work, (2) to discuss factors in would be increased)—well over half the legislative process that set limits on the population.3 the amount of influence one may exDespite a Republican administration pect to exert, including the roles of and the demise of many social pro compromise, time, and rational persuagrams started in the 1960s, important sion, and (3) to examine specific tacwelfare legislation continues to be in tics that may be used—the provision troduced and debated in both federal of timely and relevant information, the and state legislatures. For example, selection of targets of influence, and major federal legislation has been in the use of legislative and administratroduced recently on child develop tive staffs as conduits of influence. ment, health care, the minimum wage, welfare reform, social security, hous NEED FOR ADVOCATES i„g( an(j manpower.4 And thousands The need for involvement of social of bills concerning social welfare are workers in legislative advocacy has introduced each year into the fifty state long been recognized and supported.1 legislatures. Few bills survive the tor However, it is even more critical now tuous legislative process. Some deserve because of three significant factors: to pass, but many are not in the best ( 1 ) The breadth of social legislation interests of the public or do not rep causes even minor changes in policy to resent enlightened social policy. The have a major impact on millions of point is that social change will come people. (2) Much important social about whether or not social workers legislation continues to be introduced are actively involved in the process, each year. Moreover, an ever growing Moreover, federal, state, and local proportion of the budget and national governments allocated 55 percent of resources is being devoted to welfaretheir budgets for welfare activities in type activities, and it is important that fiscal 1973, compared with 42 per social workers have a role in determincent in 1965. Social welfare expendi ing priorities. (3) The lack of a budtures under public programs rose from getary surplus, combined with a slow $52.3 billion in 1960 to $215 billion rate of growth, will make competition in 1972. The proportion of the gross for funds expended on social welfare national product devoted to public so more intense than in the past. cial welfare increased from 11.8 per New legislation can produce widecent in 1965 to 17.6 percent in 1973.5 spread social change for specific segIn short, the public sector's role in ments of the population. For example, financing social welfare is growing in fiscal 1972 there were 17 governrapidly. In addition, decisions affecting mental income-transfer and in-kind social welfare are being made increas programs, each of which had over a ingly in state and federal legislatures, million recipients. Thus a change in Revenue sharing shifts even more deci

T HE RELATIVELY HIGH PROPORTION of lawyers serving in American legislative bodies has long attracted the interest of political scientists. Lawyers now consistently comprise well over one half of the membership of the United States Congress and generally are believed to constitute between one quarter to more than one half of the membership of most state legislative chambers. The practice of law is clearly the predominant occupation among state and federal legislators, and understandably, this descriptive fact has raised questions as to whether lawyer-legislators behave differently than nonlawyer-legislators. Lawyer-legislators do tend to be younger than their nonlawyer colleagues, and appear to be more politically ambitious and more likely to view legislative office as a temporary position useful for either political or private professional advancement.' But empirical

In 1962, New York City enacted a minimum wage law (subsequently held by the courts to be beyond the city's legislative authority) which would have provided for minima higher than those established by similar state and federal legislation. The authors, in this article, report their attempt to quantify, by means of establishing Cobb-Douglas functions, the theoretical impact of the New York City ordinance on employment. Within the limiting assumptions of that technique, the authors found an estimated job loss of approximately 100,000. (Author's abstract courtesy EBSCO.)

Purpose. The article engages in a comprehensive analysis of the legal and normative foundations of international activities of the Russian sub-state regions with an emphasis on regional parliaments.Methods. In order to compile the study, the author draws upon a case-oriented research design and engages in two approaches namely comparative and political-legal. The case of the study is St. Petersburg, a Russian region, and its supreme legislative body namely the Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg.Results. The author has defined the general normative-legal foundations of the international activity of the Russian regions, outlined the general normative-legal foundations of the international activity of the legislative authorities of the Russian regions and analysed the normative-legal foundations of the international activity of the representative authority of the Russian regions and their proportion with the executive branch of power in the case of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg and the system of executive authorities of St. Petersburg. In addition, the author outlined the problems of legal regulation of international activities of Russian regions.Conclusions. Firstly, in terms of legal basis, the regions of the Russian Federation have a limited range of freedom in the sphere of international relations, consisting in the maintenance of cultural and economic ties, and the international activity of the regions itself is under the control of the federal authorities. Secondly, the federal legislation of Russia contains legal uncertainties regarding the interpretation of concepts and the definition of specific mechanisms and forms of international activities of the regions. Thirdly, federal legislation, while not defining the clear competences of regional parliaments, provides the Russian regions to independently determine the specific powers of their authorities within the framework of federal and regional legislation. Fourthly, the competences of international activities of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg are limited to the status-value, normative-recommendary and advisory-expert nature. Fifthly, the structure of the powers of public authorities in St. Petersburg shows a prevalence in the powers of international activities between the legislative and executive authorities in favour of the second one

128Human rights — Freedom from discrimination — Sex discrimination — Whether unconstitutional — Citizenship laws — Determination of citizenship by patrilineal descent — Inability of mother to pass citizenship to child if married to father of child — Whether sex discrimination — Right to equal protection of lawNationality — Descent — Nationality conferred only upon those whose fathers were nationals — Whether discriminatory — Whether contrary to fundamental human rightsRelationship of international law and municipal law — Treaties — Aid to interpretation of constitutional provisions — Treaties not incorporated into domestic law — Whether only to be referred to where constitutional provisions ambiguous — Whether domestic laws to be interpreted in accordance with State’s international obligations — The law of Botswana

Recent state and federal legislation such as the Hate Crimes Prevention Act (HCPA) addresses hate crime prevention and punishment. Two pivotal questions that arise in the development of such legislation are (a) should hate crime perpetrators be subject to penalty enhancements? and (b) should protections be extended to sexual and transgender minority individuals? This article presents two studies addressing these questions employing a two-step vignette methodology. Jury-eligible community members provided sentencing and blame attribution ratings for one of three hate crime scenarios (i.e., anti-African American, antigay, or antitransgender), as well as penalty enhancement agreement (i.e., yes/no) and measures of need for affect (Study 1) and need for cognition (Study 2). Patterns of findings across studies suggest that participants comply with hate crime legislation instructions in general, but sentencing decisions are consistently moderated by whether a participant agrees with the penalty enhancement aspect of hate crime legislation. Moreover, need for affect and need for cognition differentially impact perceptions of hate crimes; need for affect demonstrated predictive associations with victim blame, whereas need for cognition moderated relations with perpetrator sentence and blame judgments. Results are discussed with emphasis on the state of federal hate crime legislation, antigay and antitransgender prejudice, and future directions in research and policy.

One of the basic theoretical and practical issues of the Public International Law is the relation of international and municipal law, i.e. the issue of position and effects of international legal acts within a municipal legal order. This issue has been a subject of doctrinal considerations, ever since, and a number of different schools have emerged in that regard. Besides theoretical importance, this issue has obtained considerable practical significance. Within the question of relation of municipal and international legal orders, implementation and effects of treaties have occupied a central place. However, besides the theoretical approach to how this issues should be tackled, concrete normative solutions related to the position of international legal acts within municipal legal order, and the way that this is defined by internal legal acts, particularly national constitutions, require certain attention. The legal position of treaties can be obtained in more details, following analyses of legal practice and case law established in a country. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to examine both theoretical and practical aspects of the position of treaties within the legal system of Bosnia and Herzegovina, bearing in the mind normative approach established by the Constitution as well as the case law of the Constitutional Court of BiH. It is concluded that the Constitution of BiH adopts the monistic system, the ratified treaties can, under certain circumstances defined by the relevant legislation, be directly applicable and treaties, in accordance to the Constitutional Court case law, prevail over national legislation.

This project provides a costed and appraised set of management strategies for mitigating threats to species of conservation significance in the Pilbara IBRA bioregion of Western Australia (hereafter 'the Pilbara'). Conservation significant species are either listed under federal and state legislation, international agreements or considered likely to be threatened in the next 20 years. Here we report on the 17 technically and socially feasible management strategies, which were drawn from the collective experience and knowledge of 49 experts and stakeholders in the ecology and management of the Pilbara region. We determine the relative ecological cost-effectiveness of each strategy, calculated as the expected benefit of management to the persistence of 53 key threatened native fauna and flora species, divided by the expected cost of management. Finally we provide decision support to assist prioritisation of the strategies on the basis of ecological cost-effectiveness.

Influencing public policy through advocacy is an essential strategy used by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA) to achieve its health impact goals and programmatic objectives, which include helping all Americans lead healthier lives and reducing the incidence and consequences of cardiovascular disease and stroke. This advocacy work involves and engages the association's national officers, researchers, volunteer advocates, staff, and the general public and is a core strategy and key work process of the AHA/ASA. The organization's strategic approach to influencing public policy and leveraging its science and evidence base is not well known. This article provides the historical context of AHA advocacy, the organizational and legal structure under which these activities are carried out, the process used to develop the association's public policy positions and goals, the approaches used to achieve these goals, and the methods that have been developed to evaluate progress. This statement also examines the various tools and tactics that advocacy organizations use to influence public policy and specifically how the AHA/ASA conducts policy research, legislative and regulatory lobbying, coalition building and grassroots mobilization, and media advocacy. Finally, the ways that AHA/ASA evaluates the impact of its advocacy efforts are discussed, highlighting specific case studies and a brief summary of the association's 2010 to 2013 public policy agenda. The AHA's efforts to translate the science of cardiovascular disease and stroke into meaningful public policy began in earnest in the early 1980s. The association established a full-time office in Washington, DC, in early 1981 that was initially focused on increasing federal research funding administered by the National Institutes of Health.1 Other early policy priorities included tobacco control and support for programs that increased access to automated external defibrillators (AEDs), new clinical preventive benefits in the Medicare program, and nutrition policy. The commitment and involvement of …

This article examines the negotiations towards a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union (EU) as an example of some challenges and solutions for implementing international trade agreements in multilevel federal systems. It briefly describes Canadian constitutional law governing the domestic implementation of international treaties and then canvasses three specific examples of current challenges related to the regulation of intellectual property. While the constitutional validity of federal regulations addressing pharmaceutical data protection, digital rights management (DRM), and geographic indications is far from guaranteed, legislators and courts have used several legal means to support implementation of Canada's international obligations in these fields.

Use of information on inflation, pharmacoeconomics, market introduction of new drug entities, practice-site-specific drug-use patterns, federal legislation, and the changing structure of health care delivery to project drug expenditures is discussed. Drug price inflation has been declining over the past several years, from 6.9% in 1991 to 2.2% for part of 1994. This can be attributed to both the growth of managed care and the industry's fear of government price controls. Pharmaceutical industry analysts project the overall price increase for pharmaceuticals in the next 12-24 months to be 2-5%. Pharmacoeconomic research is likely to become increasingly important; pharmacists will need to understand and critically evaluate this research. Drug budget projections should include a complete review of new drugs and biotechnology agents pending FDA approval, drugs pending approval for new indications, and common unlabeled uses of expensive existing agents. Various methods are available for tracking practice-site-specific drug-use patterns; those that categorize expenditures by diagnosis-related group may underestimate total expenditures associated with treating a given condition. State and federal legislation may affect drug rebates, prices, and ultimately drug expenditures. Although health care reform legislation did not pass in 1994, changes are occurring in both the pharmaceutical industry and in health care delivery, shifting the control of drug selection, utilization, and expenditures from individual prescribers to large purchasers. The accuracy of projections of drug expenditures can be improved by examining inflation, pharmacoeconomic research, the introduction of new drug entities, practice-site-specific drug-use patterns, federal legislation, and the changing structure of health care delivery.

Penn State Scandal Draws Attention to Child Sexual Abuse

Although the Australian federation came into being in 1901 under the authority of the British Imperial Parliament in London, the decision to federate, and the terms and conditions upon which it occurred, were all negotiated and agreed to by elected representatives of the several constituent states. The constituent states of the federation had secured independent powers of local self-government and constitutional self-determination in the 1850s, and when considering the possibility of forming a federation, they were not willing to give up those powers to a consolidated central government. In this respect, they looked to the examples of other historic federations, such as Switzerland and the United States, as models of government in which the constituent states agreed to form a federal level of government for certain 'national' purposes, while retaining a fundamental capacity to govern themselves independently in all other respects. The design of the Australian Constitution reflected this fundamental principle, particularly in the specifically limited competences conferred upon the federal institutions of government, the reservation of all other powers to the states, the representation of the states as equals within one of the houses of the federal parliament, and the requirement that any additional changes to the federal compact would have to be agreed to by a majority of people in a majority of states. Since the formation of the Australian federation, the High Court of Australia has not consistently interpreted the Constitution in a manner that gives effect to the intentions of its framers. Although the Constitution was designed to maintain a kind of balance between the federal and state levels of government, the general trend in Australia has been to towards increasing centralisation. There are several strategies that might be adopted to attempt to reverse this trend. One of the most radical would involve the state governments initiating a process whereby the state constitutions would be submitted to their respective peoples for ratification and approval by referendum. Such an initiative has the potential to reinvigorate the role and constitutional standing of the states within the federation. This is because, at present, only the federal constitution has been popularly ratified, and the democratic foundations of the federation have been one of the underlying reasons why the High Court has given interpretive priority to the powers of the federation in preference to those of the states. While the practical implications of such a change cannot be predicted with absolute certainty, if the state constitutions were ratified by their respective peoples, it would give the Court reason to consider the states as locations of constitutional, democratic self-governance at least as fundamental to the federation as the government of the federation as a whole, just as the framers had originally intended, and to interpret the federal Constitution in that light.