Enabling acts grant municipalities the authority to exercise which powers?

• A. Zoning Regulations
• B. Police Powers
• C. Eminent Domain
• D. Escheat

Answer: (B)

Enabling acts authorize municipalities to use police powers. This broad authority lets local governments regulate for the health, safety, and general welfare of the community. Within police powers, municipalities commonly enact zoning, building codes, health regulations, and licensing to shape local land use and standards. Escheat is a state-controlled process of transferring unclaimed property to the state, not a municipal power wired through enabling acts. Eminent domain is the power to condemn private property for public use, which is a separate, broader governmental authority often governed by different statutes. Zoning regulations illustrate police power in action, but they’re not the unique grant themselves—the enabling act provides the authority for the municipality to exercise that entire police-power framework.