News & Insights

The COVID-19 pandemic spurred an unprecedented national vaccination campaign, prompting new legal challenges to vaccination mandates. While vaccine mandates have been upheld since Jacobson v. Massachusetts, recent court decisions indicate the potential for a change in the form of a requirement that all public sector vaccine mandates include a religious exemption.  Studies show that states with religious exemptions tend to have much lower vaccine rates, making the possibility of required religious exceptions of significant concern for public health.

The Network is pleased to announce that Dawn Hunter, J.D., M.P.H., will head the Network’s Southeastern Region Office as director, effective July 1, 2021. The position was previously held by Gene Matthews, who will remain on the Network’s leadership team as Principle Investigator. As an experienced legislative analyst and state health department policymaker, Dawn will lead work to examine legislation impacting health and racial equity, and implement strategies to build the capacity of public health agencies and organizations to effectively use law and policy to improve health outcomes of communities across the country. She will also spearhead outreach initiatives with new partner organizations, including the Healthy Democracy Healthy People initiative and the newly formed Racism as a Public Health Crisis Research Collaborative.

Pride Month is a celebration by and among individuals and communities of sometimes-hard-won acceptance and affirmation of sexual orientation and gender identity, by and among individuals and communities. This month, Network attorneys highlight recent law and policy developments related to health equity, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

Over the past ten years, there have been important and lifesaving efforts to address drug related harm. All states have passed laws increasing access to the overdose reversal medication naloxone and nearly all have passed overdose Good Samaritan laws, and dedicated advocates have succeeded in legalizing syringe services programs in several states. Unfortunately, law still overwhelmingly works to increase, rather than decrease, risks to people who use drugs. In this commentary, Corey Davis, director of the Network’s Harm Reduction Legal Project, reflects on efforts to address the opioid epidemic and why additional systemic change is needed. Read more.

Parents want to ensure the safety of their children whenever they are passengers in their vehicles by using appropriate car seats or booster seats. Every state has laws regarding child safety restraints for young children while riding in a motor vehicle. However, what happens when parents of young children travel? Rideshares, like Uber and Lyft, are an attractive way to get from the airport to a hotel or other destination. Unfortunately, the requirements around using child safety restraints in rideshares vary by state and are often vague.

Pride Month is a celebration by and among individuals and communities of sometimes-hard-won acceptance and affirmation of sexual orientation and gender identity, by and among individuals and communities. This month, Network attorneys highlight recent law and policy developments related to health equity, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

Parents want to ensure the safety of their children whenever they are passengers in their vehicles by using appropriate car seats or booster seats. Every state has laws regarding child safety restraints for young children while riding in a motor vehicle. However, what happens when parents of young children travel? Rideshares, like Uber and Lyft, are an attractive way to get from the airport to a hotel or other destination. Unfortunately, the requirements around using child safety restraints in rideshares vary by state and are often vague.

Some of the public health law and policy issues in the headlines in recent weeks include HIPAA and proof of vaccination; colleges’ vaccination plans; racial disparities in vaccination rates; possible changes to governors’ authority during future public health emergencies; the relationship between COVID-19 and the opioid epidemic; and the Department of Health and Human Services’ strategy to increase vaccination rates.

The Network is proud to announce our new project with The Kresge Foundation to provide legal capacity building and technical assistance to the Foundation’s Emerging Leaders in Public Health Initiative.

The New Era of Smarter Food Safety Initiative released by the agency in June of 2020 serves as the blueprint for the FDA’s approach to food safety over the next decade. While it builds on the foundation created by the 2010 Food Safety Modernization Act, the Initiative represents a new approach to food safety that will leverage technology and data to create a safer food system.

At least 15 state legislatures have passed or are considering measures to limit severely the legal authority of public health agencies to protect the public from serious illness, injury, and death. This new report released by the Network and the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), provides an overview of public health authority and its important role in protecting the health of communities, as well as examples of specific laws that would limit public health authority.

It’s essential to rethink suicide prevention that involves the use of police, and to forge a new path forward that does not result in additional trauma or even death of the very persons whose life—and quality of life—suicide prevention advocates are seeking to protect.