Book Description

2022 was an interesting year for interstate compacts. While there were no blockbuster judicial decisions, several decisions illustrated a premium on uniform application and interpretation of compacts and several others missed opportunities to apply well-established principles of interstate compact law. Administrative developments included compact agencies taking advantage of federal funding opportunities in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which has some preferences for cooperative actions and some references to specific compact agencies. Also notable is that the Military Interstate Children's Compact Commission developed a plan for the states to fix a scrivener's in the Interstate Compact in Educational Opportunity for Military Children, a heavy lift as all fifty states and the District of Columbia are members. Legislative developments included new state laws providing for a new bridge authority between local governments in Oregon and Washington; Massachusetts becoming the fiftieth state to join the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact; Maryland resolving discrepancies between it and Virginia's enactment of amendments to the Potomac River Compact; and South Carolina withdrawing from the Interstate Insurance Product Regulation Compact, the first state to ever withdraw from that compact. This article discusses these and many more judicial, administrative and legislative developments in interstate compact law in 2022. Discussions of each case, agency action and legislative act present broadly applicable principles of law, not just the outcome for the compact at issue. For context, this article briefly summarizes the principles of law associated with the reported developments and provides citations for further reading.