National
The Gun Industry Has Systematically Demolished Regulators And Avoided The Fate Of Cigarettes
Think Progress, 12/1/15
Mark Pertschuk, director of Grassroots Change and its Preemption Watch project, told ThinkProgress that this approach was not invented by the gun lobby. “State preemption, as a national strategy for an industry, was invented [in 1985] by the tobacco industry when they succeeded in passing state preemption of local smoking ordinances in Florida in a law, cynically called the Clean Indoor Air Act,” he said. Localities were no longer permitted to pass or keep existing restrictions tougher than the state law…
Mark Pertschuk warns that every step the gun lobby takes makes it harder for citizens to mobilize. “By preempting local authority, what you’re really doing is taking away any chance of building a powerful grassroots movement. In a handful of places like Hawaii, California, and New York, where there isn’t preemption, there are powerful and successful grassroots movements on guns.”
‘Civil Rights’ Means Anti-Gay for Some Republicans
The Daily Beast, 11/27/15
[In Indiana] The latest Republican strategy to turn back the tide of history against LGBT people is a masterpiece of doublespeak: introduce “civil rights” legislation that is, in fact, anti-gay.
Bill to ban microbeads in soap advances in House
The Hill, 11/18/1
The committee approved an amendment to establish a substitute for the Microbeads Free Waters Act of 2015 to ban microbeads from personal care products and set up an aggressive timeline for the phasing out of these products beginning in 2017. The committee then voted favorably to move the substitute bill to the floor for a vote…
While typically not a fan of pre-emption, Pallone said the substitute bill includes a provision to keep states from enacting their own laws to regulate these plastic microbeads because the federal law proposed has a faster timeline for phasing out products than any state law now in place.
Markey Backs FCC Municipal Broadband Preemption
Broadcasting & Cable, 11/13/15
Competing amicus briefs by state attorneys general and members of Congress support opposing sides in the legal challenge filed by North Carolina and Tennessee to the FCC’s decision to overturn those states’ preemption of municipal broadband.
Internet Association backs FCC in state preemption battle
The Hill, 11/12/15
A group of major technology companies is putting its weight behind the federal government’s decision to preempt a pair of state laws that blocked the expansion of city-run Internet service.
The Internet Association, which represents companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook, Yahoo and others, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the Federal Communications Commission’s decision this year to override two state [preemption] laws.
California
Illegal In L.A.: Chuck Michel On The Magazine Ban
NRA, 11/24/15
The NRA interviews Chuck Michel, whose pro-gun law firm is representing the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the high-capacity magazine ban in Los Angeles, citing state preemption as part of their case.
Florida
Preemption of fracking is an issue to watch in Florida in 2016. Companion bills HB 191and SB 318 preempt the “regulation of all matters relating to the exploration, development, production, processing, storage, and transportation of oil and gas,” including fracking.
League of Cities wants to change firefighter and fracking bills
Tallahassee Democrat, 11/30/15
An issue the League has consistently fought in recent years is the Legislature preempting local government authority. This session the fight involves fracking…
Rebecca O’Hara said the League’s opposition is not environmental.
“Our issue is limited to something that we do have expertise on, which is how to address the impact of an activity that could affect the rights and peaceful enjoyment of one’s property if you live in proximity to it,” said O’Hara. “…to ensure that noises and the lights and the dust and the trucks and vibrations and whatever don’t unduly interfere with the property rights of nearby and adjacent land owners.”
Counties oppose bills to pre-empt fracking bans
Tallahassee Democrat, 11/27/15
County commissioners across Florida are opposing a push by lawmakers that would short-circuit their ability to regulate or ban fracking in their communities.
About 20 counties… and nearly 40 cities…have passed resolutions or ordinances banning fracking.
Florida considers a bill that would regulate fracking, but preempt and overturn local bans
Free Speech Radio News, 11/26/15
State rep., Estero residents debate fracking
News Press, 11/24/15
State Rep. Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero, appeared before his hometown village council on Monday to defend legislation he co-sponsored that would preempt village authority to regulate the oil industry, including overturning local ordinances designed to ban the practice of fracking for oil.
Rodrigues attempted to frame the legislation as a bill that would help the environment, but a score of residents, some affiliated with environmental groups, defended the local council’s authority to regulate fracking and called it vital to protecting local resources.
Dunkelberger: Cities, counties have a full agenda
The Ledger, 11/22/15
This article covers preemption and other legislative topics of concern to local communities in Florida.
Michigan
Judge dismisses gun lawsuit against University of Michigan
mLive, 11/24/15
A Michigan judge dismissed a lawsuit against the University of Michigan that claims the university’s ban on guns is unconstitutional and violates state law.
Ann Arbor resident Joshua Wade filed a lawsuit in June against U-M for not granting him a waiver allowing him to carry a weapon on campus, which he applied for in September 2014.
[The judge] also wrote the university’s policy prohibiting guns on campus does not violatepreemption law, which prohibits local units of government from enacting firearm law.
Governor promises veto of concealed carry expansion
Guns.com, 11/14/15
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) on Friday vowed to drop veto ink on legislation that would allow concealed carry in some gun free zones.
New Jersey
Local New Jersey ordinance prohibiting air pollution deemed constitutional, not preempted by SWMA
Lexology, 11/23/15
In an unpublished opinion issued last week, the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court found that a local ordinance that declares as a nuisance “the escape into the open air… of smoke, fly ash, dust, fumes, vapors, mists, or gases as to cause injury, detriment or annoyance . . .” is neither preempted by the New Jersey Solid Waste Management Act (“SWMA”) nor unconstitutionally broad or vague.
Oklahoma
Why Messaging Matters As Right-To-Farm Opponents Gear Up For Year-Long Campaign
KGOU, 11/20/15
A valuable discussion of the complexities and messaging around SQ 777, Oklahoma’s 2016 “right-to-farm” ballot measure which would preempt local authority over factory farms.
Coalition announces opposition to ‘Right to Farm’ state question
Tulsa World, 11/18/15
A newly formed coalition announced Tuesday that it is opposing a state question that would enshrine the rights of farmers in the state Constitution.
The Oklahoma Stewardship Council is urging voters to reject State Question 777, called the “Right to Farm” by supporters and “Right to Harm” by critics.
Former state attorney general Drew Edmondson is chairman of group.
Oregon
Multnomah County Aims to Implement Model Tobacco Licensing Program
The Lund Report, 11/20/15
Multnomah County has come good on a promise it made to the Oregon Legislature if it failed to pass legislation this summer requiring businesses to have a license before selling tobacco…
OR State Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson (D-Gresham) is preparing to reintroduce legislation in February that would license tobacco statewide and use Multnomah County’s ordinance as a model, and has “insisted” that “pre-emption will be part of the bill she introduces… I want a statewide pre-emption because I want a bipartisan bill.”
Vermont
Vermont Lawsuit a Test Case for GMO-Labeling Laws and the First Amendment
The Heritage Foundation, 11/24/15
This is a pro-industry legal analysis of the lawsuit challenging Vermont’s GMO labeling law, citing federal preemption as well as constitutional challenges to the law.