Some of the most effective tobacco control policies have been developed at the local level before being replicated and often enhanced by other state and local governments. Preemption, which occurs when a higher governmental entity removes the authority of a local branch of government, threatens the ability of local public health leaders to execute their vision for tobacco control in their jurisdictions. In 2019, several state legislatures proposed measures that would preempt local jurisdictions from regulating tobacco products in some manner, demonstrating that preemption is still a crucial issue in tobacco control.

The Tobacco Control Network (TCN), a peer network of ASTHO, and the Public Health Law Center are organizing a three-part webinar series exploring what tobacco control stakeholders need to know about preemption and strategies to avoid it. This second webinar in the series will discuss how and why the tobacco industry exerts its influence to pass state-level tobacco preemption policies to limit local authority. This webinar will include presentations from subject matter experts at the Public Health Law Center and the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network, accompanied by tobacco control managers from Florida and Hawaii who will talk about the effects of preemption in their respective states. All tobacco control stakeholders are invited to participate in this learning series.

This webinar has already occurred. Please use the resources below:

Webinar Slides [PDF]

Speakers:
Christina Thill, Tobacco Control Network (TCN), Executive Committee member
Mark Meaney, Public Health Law Center
Cathy Callaway, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
Lila Johnson, Hawaii State Department of Health
Ron Davis, Bureau of Tobacco Free Florida