Defining Special Districts

What is a Principal Act?

A "prinicpal act" is a state law - commonly a set of statutes - that authorizes a type of special purpose unit of local government to be established as a political subdivision of a state to provide limited and specific services within a geographic boundary.

Principal acts outline the governance structures of a type of special districts, limit the scope of public services a type of district can provide, set parameters for elections, may require a type of districts' board of directors to meet at a minimum frequency, and more.

Federal Definition of "Special District" vs. Principal Acts

NSDC's top federal priority is to federally define what a special district is to enhance federal government recognition and understanding of special districts as a class of local government. The definition was very carefully crafted to generally describe what a special district is across all 50 states. NSDC is committed to working with federal agencies including the White House Office of Management and Budget, the U.S. Census Bureaus, and others, to understand the diversity of special district services across the states, and to recognize state prinicple acts to altogether grasp those differences.

Learn more about efforts to federally define "Special District"

Website Accessibility Policy

National Special Districts Coalition is fully committed to providing accessible facilities, elements and channels of communication to all members of the public. As part of this commitment, National Special Districts Coalition has a policy of providing an accessible website compatible with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1) and commercial screen reading software. All features of the website are coded to allow individuals with vision and other impairments to understand and use the website to the same degree as someone without disabilities. We welcome feedback and can often resolve issues in a timely manner if they arise.

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Ongoing Compliance Information

Compliance Officer

National Special Districts Coalition has designated a compliance officer for website disability-related accommodations. The compliance officer has received training in website accessibility and updates the site in accordance with those best practices. Contact our accessibility officer to report an issue.

Compliance Procedures and Reports

In addition to testing with users with a wide range of disabilities and coding our website to WCAG standards, National Special Districts Coalition regularly scans its website to ensure ongoing compliance, and makes timely changes to any inaccessible changes, if any are found.

Linked Documents and Third Parties

Please note that this site may link out to third-party websites, such as state or federal agencies, that do not have accessible content. This site may also include documents provided by third parties included in our agenda packets, for example. While we cannot control the accessibility of content provided by third parties, we are happy to assist any member of the public with reading and accessing content on our site.

See an opportunity for us to improve? Please contact our accessibility officer or call us at .

Report a Website Accessibility Issue

We are committed to your ability to access all content, and we will respond to all requests as soon as possible.