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A group of Chicago’s aldermen (the local name for city council members) is proposing a bill that would block airlines from landing at O’Hare or Midway airports if they fail to have a passengers’ bill of rights in place. Pass the popcorn.

As a resident of Chicago, I really have to snicker at this kind of story, with a simultaneous sense of city pride and shame. This is the city council that, when its members aren’t being indicted, hasn’t shied away from making headlines with laws banning foie gras and a minimum wage aimed only at big-box stores.

But sometimes this is how things actually get done. In a federalist system, it’s sometimes slow, difficult, or impossible to change the rules nationally, for better or worse. Sometimes, large states (or groups of states) take matters into their own hands.

Take California’s rules regarding vehicle emissions. To fight smog, the state’s regulators mandated tougher emissions rules for carmakers; the size of California’s market was large enough that automakers implemented California emissions nationally. David Vogel, in his book Trading Up(aff), calls this “the California effect” or the “race to the top.”

A similar example might be the Texas school board’s power over the writing of textbooks. Because Texas is one of the largest states, and has a board wielding great power over which texts can be used in classrooms, publishers edit their books for Texas’ standards. Because it’s too costly to have different editions in different states, Texas has a huge role in defining curricula nationally.

Alderman Ed Burke believes in the California effect and apparently thinks that Chicago has similar influence. “O’Hare is the busiest airport in the nation. No airline is going to not want to do business in the city of Chicago.” Indeed, it’s hard to imagine airlines pulling out of Chicago en masse if a PBOR were required. This could get interesting.

The Chicago proposal isn’t yet officially proposed, and it sounds like it’s really more of an idea they’re kicking around at this point, rather than a full-fledged bill. No word yet on what the minimum requirements for a bill of rights would need to be, or if international and domestic flights would be treated equally.

It’s certainly a bit of grandstanding. (There’s an election this coming Tuesday, after all.) And while the city owns the airports, can they legally block an airline for such a reason? And finally, if PBOR bills up for review in Congress actually move forward in committee, it might be moot. But it’s certain to make the airlines sweat.

Like I said: Pass the popcorn.

(Hat tip to Rob at the Airline Hub for the link!)