Kathleen Hoke

Congress is poised to do something few of us expect of them—pass bi-partisan public health legislation: The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). The PWFA is intended to “eliminate discrimination and promote women’s health and economic security by ensuring reasonable workplace accommodations for workers whose ability to perform the functions of a job are limited by pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition.”

by Overview 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. ET | June 24, 2021Nationwide, state and local public health officials working to protect the public from…

by Overview 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. ET | June 22, 2021The COVID-19 pandemic has created profound challenges to public health’s efforts to protect…

The first in a series of articles by Network attorneys on major public health law and policy developments over the past 10 years. In this article, Eastern Region Office Director Kathleen Hoke shares her insights into how laws designed to reduce the harm from tobacco use have changed, and the significant strides the public health community has made to reduce tobacco use initiation and increase tobacco cessation.

Join Network attorneys as they highlight their top choices for pivotal, influential judicial decisions over the past year on topics including emergency legal preparedness, religious freedoms, reproductive rights, food insecurity, health justice, and the future of the ACA.

In the U.S., criminal defendants have the right to be represented by an attorney and states and jurisdictions must provide an attorney free of charge to defendants who cannot afford one. Advocates have sought the same right for citizens facing civil cases, including evictions. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought light to the eviction crisis, the critical need for housing stability, and the role that lawyers can play in protecting tenants from unlawful and abusive eviction.

This resource provides a summary of the laws and regulations regarding water fluoridation in each U.S. state and select jurisdictions.

This webinar reviewed the actions taken by the federal government to prevent foreclosure and by state and local governments to prevent evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Public health leaders have criticized a recent U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) proposal that would place an increased burden on those seeking to prove discrimination in housing practices. While the HUD proposal moves through the regulatory process, another federal agency, the Department of Justice, continues to do its part to prevent discrimination in housing and punish those who engage in unfair and illegal housing practices.

Although the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act directed the FDA to propose graphic warnings to be required on cigarette packages and advertising by June 2011, cigarette packages and ads in the US still do not contain graphic warnings. In August 2016, the American Academy of Pediatrics, along with other public health organizations, filed suit against the FDA seeking to force the Agency to propose graphic warnings as mandated by Congress.

This fact sheet provides examples of ways that states have chosen to address Medicaid billing for school nursing, highlighting the need for states to consider expanding Medicaid coverage for school nursing services by amending state laws.

Concern over immigration enforcement can prevent immigrants from obtaining needed health care. Many immigrants worry that health workers will share their undocumented status with immigration authorities. Removing barriers to immigrants’ utilization of preventative and other health care services is important for public health. This issue brief explores relevant federal and state health privacy laws and how they apply to undocumented immigrants and provides information on health care providers’ rights and responsibilities when providing health care to immigrants.