Answer:
With Home Rule, municipalities take themselves out from under Dillon’s Rule – the prevailing legal doctrine which states that municipalities only have the powers given to them explicitly by the state – and instead allows them to create a form and structure of governance of their choosing, so long as they do not conflict with state or federal law. In the State of Washington, for example, where we launched the Envision Spokane project, Home Rule municipalities have the ability to establish local laws that may be stricter than state law, unless the state expressly prohibits this. In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, we consulted with the elected Government Study Commission, which produced the first community rights-based municipal Home Rule Charter for Blaine Township.
