Public Health Authority

Resources Related to Challenges to Public Health Authority 

Public Health and Equity Resource Navigator (PHERN)

The Alliance is pleased to announce the beta launch of the Public Health and Equity Resource Navigator (PHERN) on Community Commons.

• In a collaborative effort with IP3, we have made accessible hundreds of resources focused on ending the pandemic, advancing equity, and building a resilient, robust, sustainable public health system for the future--and that list is growing! Please add your resources and voice with this 5-minute survey.
• PHERN enables easy searching and browsing of the resources by keywords, organization and type. Over the next few months, as we prepare to launch PHERN's dedicated website, we will continue to add resources, search functionality and more. Stay tuned!   

• ChangeLab Solutions and the Local Solutions Support Center (LSSC): Fact Sheet: An Emerging Threat to Public Health Authority. 
• Network for Public Health Law and National Association of County and City Health Officials: Proposed Limits on Public Health Authority: Dangerous for Public Health (May 2021), The report highlights state-level efforts to roll back or severely limit the authority of public health agencies, which will impact their ability to protect the public from serious illness, injury, and death both during and long after the COVID-19 pandemic.
  
• Weber L. Barry-Jester AM. Underfunded and Under Threat: Over Half of States Have Rolled Back Public Health Powers in Pandemic. A KHN review of hundreds of pieces of legislation found that, in all 50 states, legislators have proposed bills to curb such public health powers since the covid-19 pandemic began.
• Vestal C. Pew Stateline: New State Laws Hamstring Public Health Officials (7/29/21).
• Barbot O, de Guia S, Why States Should Strengthen — Not Limit — Public Health Authority, Governing (5/18/21).
• Voices for Healthy Kids: Campaign Resource Library (Filter by priorities > Preemption Efforts)
• Voices for Healthy Kids: Preemption Toolkit

Legal Databases

• Ballotpedia: Lawsuits about state actions and policies in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020-2021. Provides comprehensive coverage on how the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is affecting America's political and civic life including how federal, state, and local governments are responding. 
• NCSL: State Action on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Database. National Conference of State Legislatures brings you up-to-date, real-time information about bills related to and responding to COVID-19 that have been introduced in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
• Bloomberg Philanthropies & NLC: COVID-19: Local ActionTracker The groups have teamed up to collect and share actions taken by local leaders in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.