Final answer:
A federal requirement that states and municipalities must follow is known as a b. federal mandate, which can be either funded or unfunded.
Step-by-step explanation:
A requirement in federal legislation that forces states and municipalities to comply with certain rules is called a federal mandate. Federal mandates are demands or restrictions placed on the states, often associated with federal grant money. However, not all federal mandates come with funding. When Congress imposes such restrictions without allocating any additional money to the states, these are referred to as unfunded mandates. Unfunded mandates require states to comply with certain requirements yet do not provide financial resources, assuming states will bear the financial costs of meeting these mandates. This can include a variety of policy areas, such as the environment, civil rights, education, and homeland security, with the use of crosscutting mandates leading to penalties for non-compliance.
Federal mandates, funded or unfunded, have been justified by federal courts through the use of the Constitution, particularly when related to civil rights legislation, utilizing the 14th Amendment and its equal protection clause. The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 was an attempt to limit the use of unfunded mandates by requiring cost analysis from the Congressional Budget Office before such mandates can be enacted.