Depending on the purpose of an intergovernmental pact, it may provide rules and procedures for future actions to promote the objectives of the pact. For example, compacts designed to create interstate boundaries, such as the Missouri-Nebraska Boundary Compact,[43] cannot contain procedures for ongoing Covenant activities. This pact first provides for the adjustment of the border between the two states and related issues, such as the definition of the transgression of state sovereignty over territories that have become members of the other state as a result of border adjustment, and the right to impose real estate located in acquired territory. [44] Nor can states use a pact to repeal existing national measures. For example, if Congress adopted and funded a national testing policy, states would not be able to use a pact to deviate from federal rules. States would also not be able to enter if Congress demmunized a vaccination mandate. The compact interstates could help. As a treaty between nations, a pact is a binding agreement between a group of states elected by themselves – usually supported by laws passed in their parliaments. Compacts` approaches to their management are different. Some pacts, especially those that set specific conditions for their purpose, may simply designate the agencies of the states that are parties to the Covenant and are responsible for complying with those conditions.
[60] Where meaningful coordination and communication between states is required, a pact may designate one or more persons per state who are responsible for monitoring the state`s performance under the Covenant. [61] Other compacts may assign important regulatory powers and expertise to intergovernmental organizations to achieve compact objectives and manage compliance. [62] These intergovernmental organizations can also promote cooperation and serve as essential sources of information on the theme of the Pact. [63] Of course, states do not need formal compacts to cooperate. In March, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut coordinated the Shelter in Place rules, and they will now work together on when and how to relax those rules. 35 states and the District have also relaxed the medical licensing requirements at Lockstep to facilitate telemedicine after the absence of a federal regulation on telemedicine. It may seem surprising that states can enter into such agreements, since, according to the Constitution, „no state has the approval of Congress… To make an agreement or a pact with another state. Even more than 120 years ago, in the pioneering case of Virginia v. Tennessee, which concerned a border dispute between these states, recognized that „the culmination of absurdity“ would be to subject all intergovernmental agreements to the whims of Congress. Instead, only compacts that „alter or disrupt the righteous supremacy of the United States“ should be approved on Capitol Hill, the court said. The National Center for Interstate Compacts of the Council of State Governments has created an online database containing intergovernmental compacts available on apps.csg.org/ncic/Default.aspx. The database allows searches by compact name, status, object category, acceptance year and keyword.