Resource: An Emerging Threat to Public Health Authority

This spring, amid an ongoing pandemic, almost half of state legislatures are considering bills that could substantially limit state and local public health powers. 

Some bills, such as Missouri Senate Bill 56, would fundamentally alter the general scope of public health authority by stripping county boards of health of their existing ability to issue orders and promulgate regulations. Others, like Michigan House Bill 6134, would stymie local efforts to respond to the pandemic, including by prohibiting localities from enacting mask mandates. Some of these bills are based on ALEC’s model Emergency Power Limitation Act and are part of a nationally coordinated and longstanding effort to limit local authority and advance an anti-regulatory agenda. Many of them will likely hamstring both immediate and future responses to public health threats. 

This fact sheet, produced by Local Solutions Support Center and ChangeLab Solutions, summarizes this emerging threat to state and local public health authority and identifies some of the possible outcomes.

Click to view the PDF.