OUT NOW: Winning Strategies for Combating Abusive Preemption
State lawmakers and corporate special interests have perfected the abuse of preemption over the last decade – embracing measures specifically designed to take power away from people and communities, with the goal of upholding inequitable and often racist laws and structures. Last year alone, Local Solutions Support Center (LSSC) tracked more than 400 abusive preemption bills nationwide – most of which sought to harm BIPOC communities, LGBTQ+ people (particularly transgender youth), immigrants, women, and working people.
Abusive preemption is just one part of the much larger attack on democracy that has long been underway in the United States – but it’s a strategy that has proven both effective and enormously consequential to the communities it most impacts.
Here’s the good news: We know how to fight back. Thanks to the relentless work of advocates, activists, and policymakers across our ecosystem, we have a growing sense of the tactics we can use to counter abusive preemption and call out its true purpose. LSSC’s new report, Winning Strategies for Combating Abusive Preemption, can serve as action-oriented inspiration for both the well-tenured and emerging leaders whose creativity and passion pushes our fight forward.
Winning Strategies for Combating Abusive Preemption categories victories into policy wins – inclusive of legislative and litigative tactics; and ecosystem wins – inclusive of coalition accomplishments, progress toward structural reform, and narrative advances. Some of the achievements in the report include:
How community members and local elected officials in Florida engaged multiple cities across the Sunshine State to challenge in court HB 1, a preemption measure undermining the budget authority of municipalities over their own police departments. After a state court denied a motion from Governor Ron DeSantis’ administration to dismiss the challenge, state legislators amended the bill and addressed some of the concerns community members and elected officials had raised.
The successful push in Tennessee to mitigate the harm of a wide-ranging preemption bill that would have banned municipalities from regulating local police departments entirely. The bill was a direct response to a local policy in Memphis which sought to reduce pretextual traffic stops following the death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of Memphis police. Advocates in-state worked successfully to limit the scope of the legislation – so the final version passed was narrowed and applicable only to regulation of law enforcement protocol regarding traffic stops.
How a diverse coalition in West Virginia has worked together to successfully hold off the advancement of sweeping Death Star worker preemption bills for nearly a decade.
The community-led effort in Ohio to advance home rule reform through a challenge to the state’s sweeping preemption measure banning local regulation of tobacco and nicotine products. Fourteen Ohio cities are challenging the preemption policy in court; and in May 2024 a state court judge halted enforcement of the state’s tobacco preemption policy – calling it an unconstitutional infringement on home rule. The state is appealing.
The report also offers some higher-level lessons and recommendations, including:
Policy Wins
Diverse, cross-issue coalitions are critical for power building, education and organizing, and a key element of all the success stories we have compiled.
When passage of abusive preemption is inevitable, advocates can still focus on limiting the harm and damage of the bill through amendments.
Repeal efforts take years and multiple legislative sessions. Start building your coalition right away and keep building throughout the campaign.
Repeal campaigns require creative messaging that addresses both the importance of the policy at stake and the need for localities to have autonomy to design their own solutions.
Leverage your coalition to center the voices of the most impacted - and think creatively about non-traditional organizations, industries, and voices that might not appear in our political coalitions and campaigns.
Repeal efforts provide important educational and organizing opportunities even when passage is not realistic. They also allow advocates and communities to talk about a positive and proactive vision, not just what they are against.
Ballot initiatives are a powerful way to take our issues directly to the people and circumvent an unfavorable legislature.
Litigation can be a powerful tool to continue the fight after abusive preemption is passed. And regardless of the favorability of the court, legal challenges are powerful organizing and educational tools to continue paving the way for future wins.
City Attorneys play a critical role in safeguarding local authority, especially in their ability to use litigation to challenge abusive state preemption.
Ecosystem Wins
Creative and unusual partnerships via state-specific cross-movement coalitions are imperative to fight back against abusive preemption and tell a broader, more powerful story about what is at stake.
Building home rule reform campaigns and designing creative policy campaigns to support ongoing education and organizing activities are critical ways we can sustain our work; move the needle on our issues; and lay the groundwork for long-term, transformative structural reforms.
Leveraging communication and messaging best practices is a critical component of creating the public imperative for reform. We must move past the dry, technical nature of preemption as a policy tool to articulate the dangerous consequences for our democracy and our communities.
Our team of campaigners, communicators, lawyers, and researchers are ready to support you in countering abusive preemption in your own community. Please reach out if you’d like to discuss how any of the tactics in this white paper may inform your own work.