Fact Sheet

Extreme heat is the number one cause of weather-related death in the United States. Indoor and outdoor workers are particularly at risk during extreme days. This resource outlines federal, state, and local legal and policy protections for indoor and outdoor workers; and barriers to protecting this workforce, including legal methods like preemption – a legal method used by a higher level of government to limit the authority of a lower level of government – that can be used by some to override existing or potential local protections.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights issued a Final Rule, effective June 25, 2024, to strengthen privacy protections under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for protected health information (PHI) related to reproductive health care of an individual. This resource highlights the changes outlined in the rule and the considerations for health departments.

As the country, and the world, wait to see how the Supreme Court decides the case of Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA seeking to prevent the distribution of abortion medication, there are four important reproductive health care cases working their way through the federal court system that may also affect a large number of individuals, especially adolescents and people who have low incomes. Although Title X has been law for 54 years, courts have played and continue to play a role in construing the permissible use of Title X funds, with the four pending cases outlined in this fact sheet as examples.

Law and policy play a critical role in shaping health outcomes especially when it comes to racial health equity. While legislative actions and trends matter, it is also important to understand the role of the courts in altering legal landscapes in ways that can positively or negatively impact racial health disparities. This fact sheet highlights four 2023 U.S. Supreme Court cases with examples of how each potentially impacts racial health equity. It also provides a further examination of two cases of the cases that can be classified as wins for racial health equity.

Law and policy play a critical role in shaping health outcomes especially when it comes to racial health equity. While legislative actions and trends matter, it is also important to understand the role of the courts in altering legal landscapes in ways that can positively or negatively impact racial health disparities. This fact sheet highlights four 2023 U.S. Supreme Court cases with examples of how each potentially impacts racial health equity. It also provides a further examination of two cases of the cases that can be classified as wins for racial health equity.

The Network has identified at least eleven states and the District of Columbia (D.C.) that have now passed laws that seek to keep health data relating to abortion out of the hands of those that would seek to use them against patients and their providers merely for seeking, receiving, or providing reproductive health care. This factsheet explores common themes and creative solutions in state and District of Columbia laws aimed at protecting the privacy of reproductive health records.

Since 2020, states across the country have introduced and passed bills that prohibit or significantly limit participation by students who are transgender. Curtailing participation in school sports restricts access not only to healthful activities, but also to the physical, psychological, and academic benefits associated with them. Of these laws, at least eight have been challenged in state or federal courts on constitutional grounds. This fact sheet provides an overview of key trends in legal challenges to states’ restriction of transgender students’ participation in sports.

Judicial deference is a legal principle that has historically respected the knowledge and experience of governmental public health actors, including public health agencies. However, recent attempts to dismantle judicial deference could have a negative impact on health departments without explicitly targeting public health. This fact sheet introduces the concept of judicial deference and its role in health agency administrative decision-making.

Backlash to public health responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in the passing of bills designed to curb state and local public health authority. Many of these bills misconstrued critical definitions, legal concepts, and sources of law, while also conflating the roles of the branches of government. This fact sheet provides definitions of legal concepts, clarifying information of the roles of certain government officials with a focus on the source and breadth of public health authority granted to the County Health Officers and local Boards of Health in Maryland.

Text messaging can provide health departments with an efficient means of sharing timely public health information such as guidance, announcements, and emergency alerts. While texting can be an effective tool for protecting the public’s health, it raises important privacy issues that health departments must consider when developing texting initiatives. This fact sheet examines one piece of that legal framework: the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and regulations implemented by the Federal Communications Commission that govern certain kinds of texting.

The influx of new customers created by the legalization of adult-use cannabis can place a strain on a state’s cannabis supply. This increased demand can present a challenge to the state’s medical cannabis system and potentially reduce patient access to medical cannabis. This fact sheet examines various state policies aimed at protecting patient access to medical cannabis.

Access to timely data is essential for local health departments to provide critical public health interventions. Unfortunately, public health data is typically routed to state agencies where legal barriers, both actual and perceived, to sharing that data back to local health departments are encountered. The Illinois legislature recently passed sweeping legislation regarding access to public health data by local health departments. This fact sheet examines this new legislation and how it may transform local public health access to key data.