Preemption Webinar: Join us Nov. 16
Prepare, Plan, and Push Back
With the passage of four new local sugary beverage taxes on November 8, 2016, public health advocates are batting 1000 at the ballot box and joining a rapidly growing national nutrition movement. Unfortunately, grassroots success foreshadows efforts to preempt local authority over food, nutrition, and other public health concerns.
Please join us for a webinar providing tools and best practices to prepare and plan for preemption attempts in states across the country. The presenters will share new messaging resources, important tips to prepare for preemption bills and amendments, and a case study from Kansas. Hear about the latest developments in state preemption post-election and what you can do to anticipate and push back against attacks on local public health authority.
Carter Headrick, Director, State and Local Obesity Policy Initiative, Voices for Healthy Kids, American Heart Association/American Stroke Association
Mark Pertschuk, Director, Grassroots Change
Missty Lechner, Kansas Alliance for Wellness, American Heart Association, Kansas
Kevin Walker, Regional Vice President of Advocacy, American Heart Association, Midwest Affiliate
Webinar
Preemption: Prepare, Plan, and Push Back
What to expect in 2017 and beyond
Presented by Voices for Healthy Kids, the American Heart Association, and Grassroots Change
Wednesday, Novemeber 16 2016 3:00 pm Eastern Time/ noon Pacific Time (1 hour)
Meeting Number: 742 823 290
Meeting Password: VFHK
Add to Calendar When it’s time, join the meeting
Join by phone:
Call-in toll-free number (Verizon): 1-877-972-6091 (US)
Call-in number (Verizon): 1-877-972-6091 (US)
Attendee access code: 316 526 4
National
Bay Area and Boulder voters say yes to a soda tax
Healthy Food America, 11/9/16
The passage of four local sugary beverage tax initiatives in Boulder, CO and Albany, Oakland and San Francisco, CA adds to a successful and growing food movement and means it’s time to expect state preemption in the 2017 legislative sessions, not only in these states but in all states.
Arizona
Arizona lawmaker says Tucson breaking state law by destroying guns
Guns.com, 10/31/16
A state representative wants Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s office to investigate if Tucson has violated a 2013 law requiring jurisdictions to sell rather than scrap surplus firearms.
State Rep. Mark Finchem, R-Oro Valley, filed a complaint with Brnovich Oct. 12 arguing the city of Tucson is destroying confiscated and forfeited firearms which, according to state law, are public property and should be sold as surplus.
Florida
FERTILIZER PREEMPTION LIKELY TO RETURN
Florida Association of Counties, 10/28/16
You may recall that legislation filed in the last two sessions proposed the preemption of local government authority over fertilizer, ranging from a full preemption (including the sale, composition, formulation, packaging, use, application and distribution of fertilizer) to partial preemptions (for commercial applicators and prohibited application periods or “summer bans”).
While the Association of Counties has played an important role in protecting home rule authority over the past several years, it is very likely that similar legislation will be introduced again this coming session. At the 2012 Water Forum, Chairman Crisafulli (R – Merritt Island) stated that he expects a fertilizer bill to be filed this session, and legislative staff members with the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources have already contacted both FAC and the League of Cities seeking information related to fertilizer regulation. Although the committee staff indicated that they are not working on an interim project or an analysis of any specific proposal, they were interested in the number of existing fertilizer ordinances and wanted to become more familiar with the issue.
Iowa
We repeat: Local CAFO control needed
Globe Gazette, 11/2/16
This editorial calls for greater local control over CAFOs (factory farms) in Iowa, a state that currently preempts local authority in this area.
Kentucky
Anti-Gun Legislation Pre-Filed to Remove State Preemption Laws
NRA-ILA, 11/5/16
This week, state Senator Reginald Thomas (D-13) pre-filed BR 172, legislation that would allow urban-county governments and consolidated local governments to regulate firearms and ammunition.
Maryland
Solar energy runs into resistance in Maryland
Bay Journal, 10/28/16
Booming Solar Industry Raises Local Land Use Preemption Concerns
Maryland Association of Counties, 11/7/16
The Bay Journal (top article) outlines “some of the challenges posed by utility scale solar projects on prime agricultural lands and open space.” The MD Association of Counties, agreeing with this analysis, links it to threats of possible preemption of solar utilities in the state, stating that “one of MACo’s 2017 Legislative Initiatives is to ensure local zoning and land use concerns play a role in the siting of ‘dispersed’ energy facilities, such as solar”
North Dakota
LETTER: What is real, local control?
The Dickinson Press, 11/3/16
An opinion piece arguing for more local control over industrial waste sites in light of North Dakota’s state preemption of local authority in this issue area, and citing potential mismanagement and harm to local communities.
Oklahoma
SQ 777: Right to Farm roundly rejected by Oklahomans
NonDoc, 11/8/16
Oklahoma’s “right to farm” ballot initiative, SQ777, which would have preempted local agriculture policies, was defeated on election day.
Texas
Voucher Tenants Need Protection from Discrimination and Preemption
Nonprofit Quarterly, 11/1/16
Even as some senators put more emphasis on housing choice vouchers (HCV) and recognize the social value of mobility, state governments are raising roadblocks to Source of Income (SOI) protections for HCV households…
The Dallas Observer tells how a progressive city council in Dallas has backed down from a confrontation with the Texas State Legislature over anti-discrimination laws that would have protected housing choice voucher households.
“The city of Dallas is not going to be the test case for the state of Texas’ ban on ordinances that require landlords to take affordable housing vouchers. Wednesday, the Dallas City Council voted 9-6 against enacting an income non-discrimination, later adopting a half-measure that will require builders getting certain tax breaks from the city to rent a small percentage of their units to voucher recipients.”
Texas, national bag law advocates fight attorney general’s suit
SE Texas Record, 10/27/16
Attorney General Ken Paxton has caught resistance from numerous entities in response to his lawsuit against Texas’ first local law against bag pollution in Brownsville.
Bag law advocates on the state and national level recently joined to defend the bag ordinances. Organizations are ready to help as this issue heads to the Texas Supreme Court with the city of Laredo appealing a recent decision to dismiss the city’s bag law.