As the United States marks one year of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in more than 500,000 deaths so far and a historic economic recession, 50 top legal experts have convened to offer a new assessment of the U.S. policy response to the crisis in the COVID-19 Policy Playbook: Legal Recommendations for a Safer, More Equitable Future.
In this commentary for the American Journal of Public Health, Scott Burris calls on the public health community to support the repeal of Stand Your Ground laws, and to probe more deeply into why the United States and its citizens feels the need for these laws in the first place.
This map presents state-level statutes and regulations that regulate earned sick leave laws in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, as of January 1, 2021. Specifically, the map identifies whether earned sick leave is regulated by state law, the probationary period an employer may impose before allowing an employee to use leave, the rate of accrual, the limit an employer may place on the use and accrual of leave, and under which circumstances leave may be used by an employee.
This dataset identifies whether a state-level Ban the Box law exists; whether it applies to private or public employers; the type of employers that are exempted; the point in the hiring process at which employers may consider an applicant’s criminal history, along with the penalties for violating those regulations. This dataset presents statutes, regulations, and executive orders that regulate Ban the Box policies in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, as of January 1, 2021.
In the United States, preemption is a legal doctrine that allows upper levels of government to restrict or even prevent a lower-level government from self-regulating. While it is most often thought of in the context of the federal government’s preemption of states, preemption is increasingly being used as a tool by states to limit cities, counties and other lower-level municipalities from legislating across a broad array of issues.
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a tax benefit for working people with low to moderate income regulated at the state and federal-level. The credit incentivizes work and reduces poverty for individuals and families by establishing credits that apply to an individual’s tax liability, with any excess potentially awarded as a cash refund. Studies of EITC laws have shown health improvements associated with the credits, most significantly among single mothers and children.
Inspired by the "Legal Levers for Health Equity in Housing" report series published by the Center for Public Health Law Research, this webinar series explores the goal of health equity in housing through the lens of laws, policies, and other legal mechanisms to understand how those “levers” may support broad-reaching systems change to establish access to safe, affordable housing in richly diverse and supportive neighborhoods.
Roads in the United States are rarely developed with consideration for users other than motorists. This can result in dangerous conditions for pedestrians, bicyclists and users of public transit. Complete Streets policies seek to create safer roads by designing them to balance the needs and priorities of all users. These users typically include motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists and transit users. Complete Streets are often implemented through state or local transportation policies, state laws and regulations, or city ordinances.
This report offers policy recommendations on 35 wide-ranging topics from 50 national experts, from pandemic preparedness and health care to conducting sound elections and adapting immigration policy. Designed to advise leaders at the federal, state and local level, the report presents a timely examination of policy challenges and opportunities in light of the pandemic.
The global abortion field has a murky understanding of the impact of abortion laws. With legal epidemiology, legal and scientific researchers can together produce a clearer view of the relationships between laws and public health outcomes. Scientists study public health with a required degree of rigor, while the global study of abortion laws globally and how it they impacts public health outcomes remains less developed. Global abortion researchers tend to focus on the circumstances in which abortion is legal as the independent variable when investigating public health outcomes.
