The Growing Shadow of State Interference: Preemption in the 2019 State Legislative Sessions

Today, many of America’s cities, towns, and counties have less power than they did at the start of the year to protect the health and safety of their communities or to respond to the unique needs and values of their residents. That’s because between January and June 2019, state legislatures across the nation continued a troubling trend of passing more laws forbidding or “preempting” local control over a large and growing set of public health, economic, environmental, and social justice policy solutions. This legislative session, state lawmakers made it illegal for locally-elected officials to enact a plastic bag ban in Tennessee, raise revenues in Oregon, regulate e-cigarettes in Arkansas, establish minimum wages in North Dakota, protect county residents from water and air pollution produced by animal feedlots in Missouri, or protect immigrants from unjust incarceration in Florida.

Some states this session went further, with bills aimed at abolishing core powers long held by cities, including their ability to negotiate and set employment terms with their own contractors, enact and implement local land use laws, and control their own budgets and finances.

From 2011 – 2019, the quantity and reach of new preemption laws has skyrocketed.

But the tide may be turning. The 2019 legislative session also saw an unexpected and unprecedented number of bills filed to repeal state preemption laws and return legal authority for local decision-making in several states. Bills to repeal state preemption of local minimum wage laws, rent control, tobacco tax, oil and gas well regulation, plastic bag bans and broadband were introduced in legislatures across the country. Earlier this year, Colorado became the first state to legislatively repeal minimum wage preemption, countering a decade-long trend of state overreach. Also, in 2019, cross-issue coalitions working at the grassroots succeeded in killing or weakening preemption bills and more state and local lawmakers pushed back on state interference and became public champions of local democracy. This end-of-the 2019 session report, a joint product of the Local Solutions Support Center (LSSC) and the State Innovation Exchange (SiX), is not an encyclopedic scan of every state preemption bill passed in 2019. It is, instead, an illustrative look at the preemption trends observed this session.

Download the full report to read more.

The 2019 #FightingForFamilies Week of Action

The 2019 #FightingForFamilies Week of Action highlighted the work of progressive state legislators across the country who are fighting to put more money in the pockets of working people. More than 300 legislators from 43 states and 115 national and in state partners participated in the week of action!

Highlights include:

30 bill introductions
9 Tele-town halls with 20 legislators and 6 partners reaching more than 204,000 people, with more than 33k participating directly with their legislators.
19 Facebook or Twitter live town halls and press conferences
63 Legislator videos
325 legislators participated
12 op-eds
National twitter storm with 20.9 million impressions across 9.7 million Twitter users.
Facebook reach of 2.7 million users through promotion of SiX-generated state specific graphics, issue-based graphics, WOA-related content (i.e. blog posts, articles, FB events), and legislator videos.

The Florida Sunrise Agenda

This past Tuesday was the first day of Florida’s 2019 legislative session. Progressive grassroots organizations and legislators unveiled their vision for Florida, the Florida Sunrise Agenda, at The People’s Response immediately following the governor’s State of the State.

FL Sunrise agenda launch — *Progressive lawmakers and advocates launching the Florida Sunrise Agenda on the first day of the 2019 legislative session.*

The Sunrise Agenda is based on five pillars: our healthcare, our economy, our students, our environment, and our people.

Our Healthcare: Floridians across the state want the legislature to lower healthcare costs and premiums, as well as making prescription drugs more affordable. In addition to making sure everyday Floridians are able to have access to affordable, quality healthcare coverage, 71% of voters want to ensure abortion remains legal in the state.

Our Economy: Current economic policies supported by the majority in the legislature are not working for all Floridians. The top economic policy on the minds of Florida voters is ensuring that women earn the same pay as men for the same work. Making sure equal pay for equal work policies are in place is vital not only to women, but for all families. In addition to equal pay, voters support progressive economic policies such as raising the minimum wage, earned sick leave, and paid family and medical leave.

Our Students: Floridians want the legislature to increase investment, equity, and equality in our public education system so that all students, regardless of the economic situation they are born into, have opportunities to succeed in Florida. Investing in our students also means funding a world class public education system.

Our Environment: Our state is beautiful because of our water, beaches, and nature. However, that is all at stake if the state doesn’t act when it comes to climate change. The health and well-being of our children and families are at stake. Hotter temperatures, air pollution, and warmer waters are a serious threat to the health of our residents, especially children and the elderly.

Our People: Lastly, the people of the great state of Florida are our most valuable asset. 71% of Florida voters support nondiscrimination protections for the LGBTQ community that would ensure that people are not discriminated when it comes to housing, employment, and public accommodations. Furthermore, 85% of voters agree that it is important to have an open and functioning democracy in Florida, which means we must have free and fair elections. We must modernize and better fund our election system and expand Florida’s online voter registration system is accessible to every eligible voter. Lastly, nearly 60% of Florida voters agree that we should make voter registration automatic for all citizens ages 18 and older who have drivers’ licenses.

Florida progressives are proud to present a clear vision that supports all Floridians. We will always be fighting for our healthcare, our economy, our students, our environment, and our people. To learn more about the Florida Sunrise Agenda, please visit www.flsunriseagenda.com and follow the statewide conversation on social media, using #FLSunriseAgenda.

What do North Carolina Voters Want?

Recently polling commissioned by SiX shows that voters want the legislature and the governor to focus on policies that would create an economy that works for everyone, make the investment needed for a first-class education system, and make affordable health care available to more North Carolina residents. Voters believe strongly that polluters, not ratepayers, should pay the costs of pollution. Respondents believe that voting should be as accessible as possible and oppose efforts to make access to the voting booth more difficult. Respondents also felt strongly that public dollars should be used for traditional public schools first, and oppose using taxpayer money to fund private and charter schools when public schools have inadequate funding available.

See key findings from an online survey among 600 likely voters statewide conducted February 11 to 18, 2019:

The Census Is a Year Away: How State Legislators are Ensuring a Fair & Accurate Count

DENVER, Colo. – Advocates across the nation are recognizing April 1, 2019, as Census Day of Action, marking a year until the 2020 Census begins. Every ten years, the federal government conducts a census to track changes in population and demography, and this data is used for important determinations related to how federal, state, and local actors allocate their resources, essential public research, and the determination of future political representation. State legislators play a crucial role in ensuring that all people count.

Census data determine the allocation of more than $800 billion in annual federal funding and are often used in state and local policy making, decision making, and research. An inaccurate census in 2020 would jeopardize funding for a range of programs and services like fire departments, highways, hospitals, and the national school lunch program. It would also compromise crucial supports for all communities – white, black, and brown alike. Census data are also used for the processes to draw local, state and federal political maps – known as reapportionment and redistricting – and therefore are vital to advancing a fair and representative democracy.

“Progressive lawmakers across the country are using their voices and their positions to ensure every single resident in their state is counted, fairly, accurately and without fear in 2020,” said SiX Executive Director Jessie Ulibarri. “State legislators recognize that critical resources and electoral representation are at stake for their communities. We recognize that all people must count and applaud legislators who are dedicating resources to reach hard-to-count groups such as communities of color, low-income communities, immigrants, and young children.”

Below is an overview of various state legislation to support a fair and accurate census. So far this year, at least 59 bills from 25 states have been introduced to support 2020 Census preparation and participation. Most bills aim to do one or more of the following:

Authorize state Complete Count Committees
Fund Census outreach programs with an emphasis on hard-to-count communities
Condemn the inclusion of the citizenship question
End prison gerrymandering

State Complete Count Committees (CCCs): CCCs are encouraged to reflect each state’s diversity and will work to raise awareness of the Census, develop messaging plans tailored to their constituents, identify and engage hard-to-count communities, and motivate full participation in 2020.

There are currently at least 14 bills from eight states that would establish state CCCs (Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, and West Virginia). These are in addition to the nearly 20 states that have successfully established CCCs through legislation, executive order, or a combination of the two over the last two years.
A notable bill in Massachusetts would create a Massachusetts Census Equity Commission with a particular focus on undercounted communities. The bill proposes a diverse and distinctive set of membership requirements, including appointees from the Senate Black and Latino Caucus and House Asian Legislative Caucus; representatives from agencies and organizations serving refugees and homeless persons; a representative from the Wampanoag tribe; and youth, elderly, and renter representatives.

Citizenship Question: Perhaps the most visible and controversial aspect of 2020 Census preparation has been the Trump administration’s last-minute attempt to add an untested citizenship question—a move that would depress participation by noncitizens and mixed-immigration-status households and reduce census accuracy.
- Legislators in Georgia, New Mexico, Nevada, and Pennsylvania have introduced resolutions this year that declare strong opposition to the citizenship question and urge the federal government not to include it on the 2020 questionnaire.
  
  Fund the Census and Reach Hard-to-Count Communities: Legislators across the country are proposing substantial appropriations for census education and outreach efforts that target hard-to-count communities. By funding robust outreach and preparation today, states can secure millions—or possibly billions—of federal dollars in the future.
- A bill recently introduced in Colorado (CO HB19-1239) would establish a 2020 Census outreach grant program with a budget of $12 million to fund local governments and community organizations “to conduct 2020 census outreach, promotion, and education to focus on hard-to-count communities in the state and to increase the self-response rate and accuracy of the 2020 census.”
- Illinois lawmakers have proposed at least six bills that would appropriate substantial funding for census outreach and education efforts. Proposed appropriations range from $17 million to $33 million.
- Over the last two years, the California legislature has appropriated over $100 million dollars for census activities through several bills.
- Minnesota legislators (2019 MN HF 1644) are working to ensure that Census Bureau employees have access to apartment buildings and other residential facilities. Renters and individuals living in multi-unit buildings are often hard-to-count, and are therefore undercounted, in the census
  
  Ending Prison Gerrymandering: The practice of counting incarcerated Americans as residents of the town where they are imprisoned rather than in their home community distorts local and state representation and leads to a hidden transfer of political power from urban to rural areas.
- At least 15 bills from 11 states have been introduced that would end prison gerrymandering and count incarcerated individuals at their last known home address. These bills have been proposed in Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Texas, and have already passed one legislative chamber in New Jersey (2019 NJ S 758) and Washington (2019 WA SB 5287).