Laws applicable in only a few states

As far as I can tell, most US state laws are shared among most, if not all, of them. They frequently copy each other or adopt model laws, although often with minor tweaks (but we’re going to ignore such tweaks in this thread). Other laws are unique to a single state, and I expect all states have at least one such law.

But this thread is not going to be about either of those, but rather laws that only a small number of states share. By small number, I mean at least 2 but no more than 6. BTW, I’m also looking for negative laws, i.e. laws that all but a few states have.

I’ve compiled a list, but it’s strongly biased towards my state, so I’m looking for others. Here’s what I have so far:

[ul]
[li]No general sales tax: AK DE MT NH OR[/li][li]Electoral votes allocated by congressional district: ME NE[/li][li]Self-service gas prohibited: NJ OR[/li][li]Physician-assisted suicide: CA OR VT WA[/li][li]100% vote-by-mail: CO OR WA[/li][li]Nonpartisan blanket primary: CA LA WA[/li][li]No daylight savings time: AZ HI[/li][li]Legal recreational marijuana: AK CO DC OR WA[/li][/ul]

The last one on the list will almost certainly grow beyond my limit of 6 later on this year. There’s at least 5 states that’ll have it on the ballot in November and I expect most will pass.

Things I don’t want:

  1. Laws that have no real effect. For example, several states call themselves Commonwealths. Despite that, they’re still states and being a Commonwealth has absolutely no legal effect. Another thing is state symbols, such as state flowers or birds. There’s some duplication among the states, but I’m not interested in which states have the rododendron as the state bush or whatever.

  2. Things that aren’t set by state law but are more accidents of history, geography, natural processes, or even spelling. That is, I’m not interested in which states joined the union in 1889, have a border with Mexico, contain active volcanos, whose names start with the letter W, or anything similar.

So any additions?

The governor is forbidden from filling vacancies in the US Senate: ND OK OR RI WI

Minimum age for marriage without parental consent: 18 in all states, except NE (19) and MS (21).

I had the impression that when I was growing up, OK and MS were legally dry. I was once in a bar room in MS and displayed on a mirror behind the bar was a “Black Market Liquor License”.

In Pennsylvania when I was growing up, professional baseball games could not start on Sundays before 1PM nor continue past 7PM. Since most Sundays had doubleheaders, that was a serious restriction. I once tried, without success to find out when that ended.

And in PA, you could buy liquor and wine only in state liquor stores. I remember that people used to drive to NJ to get cheap booze. One day a couple of Keystone cops staked out a NJ package store near the bridge and radioed the license plates of PA cars they saw parked by the store. Then the NJ cops came along and arrested them for having weapons without a NJ permit.

What weapons?

California .

The cops had guns.

Well I guess they do, you know on things like road signs and the design of safe drinking bottles, but is that for the most part ?

I guess the main omission is to neglect the shared mother law, the laws of England enforced on the colonies. No state ever voted “we delete the common laws of murder, rape and theft”, without replacing them with a modern version of same.

Much of the laws of your state are highly specific. “On Tuesdays, the ferry across the river Styx can leave at 11.05am instead of 11 am”. Highly unlikely to be COPIED.
Not really a model, but I know what you mean, like same sex marriage is copied but not imposed, or road rules and car design laws are externally imposed, or logically imposed (They deliberately use the same details … and do it deliberately ,eg at about the same time, due to the practicality that results from being consistent with other states.)
But I don’t know of a process where one state house is set the task of keeping up with other state houses laws… What ? just to be sure they don’t miss a beat ?

Slightly out of your parameters but in keeping with the spirit.

19 states require annual car safety inspections: Delaware, Illinois, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia.

There are also 30 states that require annual emissions tests, but that seems too far outside the parameters to make them worth mentioning.

NH has no seat belt law for adults.

There is no such thing as shared state laws. States may use laws from other states as models for their own laws. States might communicate closely with each other about passing laws regarding such things as maintaining roads and bridges across their border, or the rights of police agencies to pursue and investigate crimes across the border, or to address any number if issues common to two or more states. But those are not shared. They are separate laws, separately approved in each state, that are designed to complement each other.

Live Free or Die

Colorado is the only state with TABOR (Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights). It requires (among other things) that taxes cannot be raised, or new taxes implemented, without voter approval. It also imposes spending caps on government.

I think that we are also the only state with a “make my day” law. That’s basically the Castle Doctrine, but it plays out differently in Colorado than most states.

I think that dtilque is overstating the level of legal uniformity among the states.

Sure, many state have a sales tax, but every state has different screwy rules about what’s taxable. For instance, in Minnesota clothes aren’t taxable, but thread and fabric and buttons are. (Oh, and furs are taxable, too.)

Liquor laws are quite variable across states, as are blue laws in general. (Who knew that 19 states ban automobile sales on Sunday?)

Even the definitions of violent crimes are variable, as well as their punishments.

Each state has a homestead exemption to bankruptcy (i.e., a law setting some minimum amount that cannot be seized), but the homestead amount varies sharply among different states.

Nebraska has a Unicameral – a state government with only one legislative house, not two corresponding to a House and a Senate.

In Vermont, felons retain the right to vote, even when still incarcerated.

Several rivers are entirely within one bordering state, such as the Potomac, which is entirely in Maryland up to the Virginia shore, and the Ohio which is entirely in Kentucky up to the Ohio banks.

Kansas requires a special permit and license plate to drive into or through the state in a vehicle registered in its home state for commercial use. (There may be other such states,)

Florida has an internal agricultural quarantine zone, enforced at the Suwannee River.

Louisiana once prohibited the charging of a toll to cross any waterway (bridge or ferry), rescinded with the death of Huey Long.

California once prohibited the charging of a tuition fee at all state colleges and universities, rescinded with the election of Governor Reagan.

Until recently, Kansas prohibited branch banks. A bank had to do business from a single location. Expanded once to allow off–premises drive-in windows in urban locations.

Live Free and Die

Virginia bans radar detectors, governors can’t be reelected and governor elections fall in off years.
Maryland has a minimum gas price law.
Pennsylvania has minimum milk and cigarette price laws.

Considering I’ve heard this story with minor variations for 3 different state pairings where people would cross the border for cheaper/Sunday booze (PA/NJ, CT/RI, MA/NH), I’m going to chalk it up to being an urban legend.

It wasn’t a rumor in PA. People went to great effort to travel to NJ and MD to buy alcohol for less. I don’t think the police in the other states cared, but the PA state police were on the lookout for liquor smugglers. You’ll see discount liquor stores right over the bridge in Trenton and thriving liquors stores in little one horse towns in MD. It’s probably not as common as it once was for people to go out of state to stock up on liquor but in the 70s and earlier when the cocktail hour was still prevalent there was a lot of incentive.