September 10, 2019
Single-use plastics have created a major threat to the environment. As in the case of the other issues tracked in the Grassroots Change Preemption Map, much of the recent success in regulating or banning plastic bags and other “auxiliary containers” has come at the local level. In response, the plastics industry, …
August 10, 2019
August 6, 2019
In the 1970s and 80s, the gun lobby faced the threat of an effective national movement to prevent gun violence. To stop that grassroots movement, the NRA borrowed a page from the tobacco industry’s playbook and promoted state preemption of local gun laws. They succeeded in 43 states, but in the handful of states that …
July 25, 2019
M, Zellers L, Sullivan PA; Pomeranz JL, Pertschuk M.Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. March/April 2019;25:101–103. doi: 10.1097/PHH.0000000000000956. This 4-part model provides a framework for strategies that have been used effectively by public health advocates, most notably in the tobacco control arena, who have countered and even repealed state …
October 13, 2018
It’s very easy to be cynical about politics. I can be cynical as well. But seeing policies being guided by a grassroots movement, with people who wanted to make this happen at all levels of power in the city, was inspiring. — Sara Soka, former Campaign Manager, Berkeley vs. Big Soda …
June 11, 2018
The Herald Sun, Gene Baur, May 30, 2018- Factory farming in North Carolina recently took a hit in a federal nuisance lawsuit when a jury awarded plaintiffs more than $50 million in damages in their case against Smithfield. As we’d expected, the agribusiness giant is appealing, and a judge has …
January 15, 2017
Part 3: Legal Challenges Distract and delay. Two tactics the tobacco industry used for decades to slow the progress of public health are now being used by the soda industry, which in 2016 filed legal challenges against Oakland and Boulder’s soda tax campaigns and against the City of Philadelphia after …
October 15, 2019
Colorado Florida Missouri Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Texas Wyoming National Opinion Jim Fossel: Democrats push top-down reform CentralMaine.com, 9/29/2019 Leading contenders for the presidency are calling for national projects that would interfere with state and local prerogatives. One of the great features of our constitutional democracy — one that was thoroughly …
October 8, 2019
Republic Report, Evan Vorpahl, October 7, 2019- In a new white paper by Local Solutions Support Center (LSSC) and Illumination Investigations, Evan Vorpahl and Lisa Graves document how Juul has flooded statehouses with lobbyists to advance T-21 legislation – bills to raise the purchase age of tobacco to 21, but …
October 8, 2019
Washington Post, Fenit Nirappil, October 7, 2019- A majority of the D.C. Council wants to impose one of the highest taxes on sugary drinks in the nation, driving up the cost of a soda in the capital city. A bill announced Monday would levy a 1.5 cent-per-ounce excise tax on …
October 8, 2019
NPR, Leila Fadel, October 7, 2019- It’s a hectic morning at the home of Kathleen O’Donnell and her wife, Casey. Kathleen is getting their 4-year-old foster daughter ready for the park. She got placed with them overnight. Casey is wrangling the four dogs. They’ve already got their 11-year-old son off …
October 4, 2019
Miami Herald, Lawrence Mower, October 4, 2019- In much of Florida, your boss can fire you, or choose not to hire you, for being gay, bisexual or transgender. More than four years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled same-sex marriage to be legal, blatant discrimination is perfectly legal. A bipartisan …