The fourth edition of The Local Power & Politics Reviewis now live – the latest edition of this annual publication that explores how abusive preemption legislation has permeated so many areas of American policy. The new edition covers a wide range of issue areas – from abortion access to local environmental action to LGBTQ+ equality to prosecutorial discretion.
Read MoreLSSC's Spotlight Series profiles just a sampling of our incredible partners in the preemption space. By sharing these profiles, we aim to highlight the important work of our colleagues and demonstrate how the different prongs of our work (campaigns, communications, research, legal and home rule reform) all connect and play an essential role in combating abusive preemption.
Read MoreA new white paper from Local Progress and Local Solutions Support Center (LSSC), Driving Toward Equitable Traffic Enforcement, offers local advocates and policymakers a roadmap for advancing traffic safety policies that promote driving equity - while highlighting preemption-related concerns to keep in mind.
Read MoreRick Su, Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law, has written a new white paper for LSSC that charts the growth and evolution of immigration-related preemption measures in recent years.
Read MoreA new white paper by Richard Briffault for Local Solutions Support Center (LSSC), Preemption of Local Election Administration, looks at these abusive preemption trends and their impact on our democracy. The report is an update to a July 2022 white paper from Briffault which first explored this emerging preemption trend.
Read MoreLSSC is piecing together the big takeaways from this year’s sessions - and the result is an alarming picture of how preemption is playing a central role in larger efforts to weaken American democracy.
Read MoreThis paper is a brief update to our earlier white paper, “Preempting Progress: States Take Aim at Local Prosecutors,” cataloging attempts to curtail the discretion of local prosecutors. In this update, we also address successful efforts to push back against the efforts to strip power from local prosecutors and the communities that elected them.
Read MoreThis memo from Local Solutions Support Center (LSSC), the hub dedicated to defending and advancing local democracy, details the trends our team is tracking during the first three months of the 2024 legislative season.
Read MoreThe piece was written by Jessy Correa, a program manager with Cornerstone Connections in Orange County, and a survivor of domestic violence who advocates for women; and Santra Denis, executive director of the Miami Workers Center.
Read MoreLawmakers in Tallahassee are poised to wrap regular session later next week (3/8), but there are a number of abusive preemption bills we’re tracking between now and then.
Read MoreIn 2024, state lawmakers are once again seeking to undermine local democracy and take power away from people and communities with preemption bills that weaken our democracy and the ability of everyone to participate in it. Here are a few states, initiatives, and bills to have on your radar in the days ahead.
Read MoreIn a new paper from A Better Balance, Local Solutions Support Center, and Equality Federation, we highlight the different types of abusive preemption that target local authority to protect LGBTQ+ individuals.
Read MoreTo strengthen this defense against prosecutorial preemption, we need a multi-pronged approach: we must continually monitor and assess of strategies’ effectiveness, we must correct false media narratives, and we must build coalitions with communities to ensure that the approaches they support are allowed to flourish.
Read More“If we want to create policy that solves housing problems and endures across the shifting whims of politics, we cannot rely on simple rubrics dictating that local is good, while state is bad, or vice versa. We need to propose solutions that actually solve problems, rather than just stymie the level of government in which the opposite political party holds power. “
Read More“New preemption” is moving in a dangerous new direction, with states not just targeting specific local policy decisions but rather impairing or eradicating whole realms of local authority entirely,
Read MoreLSSC is looking for the next leader of our Legal Team. Our Legal Team Lead is a member of our Core Team of consultants and is responsible for advancing our strategic priority of rebalancing the power between state and local governments by creating and deploying the foundation of legal expertise on preemption issues
Read More“Citizens are recognizing the effects of preemption and other forms of state- and interest-driven control over their lives and communities, and they are fighting back in both traditional and non-traditional ways.”
Read MoreLSSC’s latest report, Protecting Local Democracy: 2023 Legislative Session Overview, explores all the preemption trends that played out in states across the country this past year. The report also highlights what issues advocates are most concerned about as we head into 2024 – from an uptick in efforts to remove duly elected prosecutors from office, to how preemption is abused to undermine local election authority.
Read MoreThis post was written by Steven L. Nelson, J.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor/Department Chair, Educational Psychology, Leadership, & Higher Education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Read MoreThe scope of abusive preemption bills are widening – from Death Star preemption; to efforts to undermine the power of reform-oriented prosecutors; to discriminating against transgender youth; to making it harder for local officials to successfully conduct elections. LSSC’s mid-session report explores the top trends we’re tracking so far this session, as well as a few promising victories that advocates are securing.
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