New Year-in-Review Report Reflects on an Unprecedented Year in Abusive Preemption Legislation

The Local Solutions Support Center (LSSC) tracked more than 1,000 abusive preemption bills in 2022 – an all-time high and more than double the number of bills tracked the prior year. The forces behind the year-after-year increases in abusive preemption bills are well known: Conservative elected officials at the state level, and the corporate donors to whom many of them are beholden, who are working in lockstep to prop up racist power structures and squash any policies they deem a threat to their own prosperity. 

More Americans are becoming aware of preemption as well, as the effects of this GOP and corporate-driven strategy impact a growing number of issues. Many first heard of preemption in 2020 and 2021, as it was used to undermine public health authority at the height of the pandemic. This past year, LSSC tracked growing trends to preempt local decision-making across new and ever-multiplying issues – but in particular, LGBTQ rights, democracy, and voting rights.

Despite the growing threat of abusive preemption, LSSC and our partners across the country secured important wins in 2022 – in state houses, in the courts, and in organizing spaces. We learned lessons and developed best practices that are already strengthening our work as the national hub countering abusive preemption and strengthening democracy as we head into 2023.

This new report highlights some of the Local Solutions Support Center’s key activities to support the field and push back against abusive preemption in 2022. Click here to read the report.