Memorandum on the Need for "Creative Federalism" Through Cooperation With State and Local Officials

Memorandum from the President to: Secretary of Defense, Acting Attorney General, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of Labor, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Director, Office of Economic Opportunity, Director, Office of Emergency Planning.

SUBJECT: Advice and Consultation with State and Local Officials

The basis of creative federalism is cooperation.

If Federal assistance programs to State and local governments are to achieve their goals, more is needed than money alone. Effective organization, management and administration are required at each level of government. These programs must be carried out jointly; therefore, they should be worked out and planned in a cooperative spirit with those chief officials of State, county and local governments who are answerable to their citizens.

To the fullest practical extent I want you to take steps to afford representatives of the chief executives of State and local government the opportunity to advise and consult in the development and execution of programs which directly affect the conduct of State and local affairs.

I believe these arrangements will greatly strengthen the Federal system at all levels. Our objective is to make certain that vital new Federal assistance 'programs are made workable at the point of impact.

I am asking the Director of the Bureau of the Budget to work with you, with the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, and with the public interest groups representing State and local government in developing useful and productive arrangements to help carry out this policy.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON