2024 End-of-Session Report: "Preemption’s Role in Undermining American Democracy"

As 2024 state legislative sessions draw to a close and we begin hurtling toward the November elections, the Local Solutions Support Center (LSSC) 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.

Our new report, Preemption’s Role in Undermining American Democracy: 2024 Legislative Session Overview, tracks the 411 abusive preemption bills LSSC identified nationwide this year across 16 different issue spaces. What emerges from the tracking is a story that doesn’t impact everyone equally - most of the bills LSSC tracked are specifically designed to harm historically excluded communities - like BIPOC communities, LGBTQ+ people (particularly transgender youth), immigrants, women, and working people. At its core, preemption is abused with the explicit intention of taking power away from these communities; and with the goal of upholding inequitable and often racist laws and structures. 

This report explores the major areas of everyday life where lawmakers and corporations are advancing preemption in an effort to undermine democracy. Read it by clicking here.