Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T21:22:34.173Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Community Experiments in Public Health Law and Policy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Extract

Community-level legal and policy innovations or “experiments” can be important levers to improve health. States and localities are empowered through the 10th Amendment of the United States Constitution to use their police powers to protect the health and welfare of the public. Many legal and policy tools are available, including: the power to tax and spend; regulation; mandated education or disclosure of information, modifying the environment — whether built or natural (e.g., zoning, clean water laws); and indirect regulation (e.g., court rulings, or deregulation). These legal and policy interventions can be targeted to specific needs at the community level and are often relatively low-cost, but high impact interventions. As every community is different, effective laws and policies will vary. This freedom allows states and localities to, as Justice Louis Brandeis argued, truly serve as “laboratories of democracy.”

Type
JLME Supplement
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2015

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

U.S. Const., amend. X; Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905).Google Scholar
Institute of Medicine, For the Public's Health: Revitalizing Law and Policy to Meet New Challenges (Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press, 2011): at 58.Google Scholar
New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann, 285 U.S. 262 (1932) (“a single courageous State may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country…”).Google Scholar
University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, “County Health Rankings,” available at <http://www.countyhealthrankings.org> (last visited January 28, 2015).+(last+visited+January+28,+2015).>Google Scholar
University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, “RWJF Culture of Health Prize,” available at <http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/roadmaps/prize> (last visited January 28, 2015).+(last+visited+January+28,+2015).>Google Scholar
Ogden, C. L. Carroll, M. D. Kit, B. K. Flegal, K. M., “Prevalence of Childhood and Adult Obesity in the United States, 2011–2012,” JAMA 31, no. 8 (2014): 806814, available at <http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1832542> (last visited January 28, 2015); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Adult Obesity Facts,” available at <http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html> (last visited January 28, 2015).Google Scholar
Title 10, Chapter 203.20 of the Minneapolis Code of Ordinances.Google Scholar
Minneapolis Health Department, Testing an Evaluation Model for Assessing the Efficacy of the Minneapolis Healthy Corner Store Program (September 2013), available at <http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/public/@health/documents/webcontent/wcms1p-115543.pdf> (last visited January 28, 2015).+(last+visited+January+28,+2015).>Google Scholar
City of New Orleans, Fit NOLA, available at <http://www.nola.gov/health-department/fit-nola/> (last updated January 28, 2015).+(last+updated+January+28,+2015).>Google Scholar
City of New Orleans, City of New Orleans Awarded Blue Cross Blue Shield Partnership for a Healthier America Play Streets Grant, Press Release, November 14, 2012, available at <http://www.nola.gov/mayor/press-releases/2012/20121114-city-of-new-orleans-awarded-blue-cross-bl/> (last visited January 28, 2015).+(last+visited+January+28,+2015).>Google Scholar
Human Impact Partners, Health Impact Assessment Fact Sheet, available at <http://www.humanimpact.org/new-to-hia/> (last visited January 28, 2015).+(last+visited+January+28,+2015).>Google Scholar
Office of the Surgeon General, Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, The Health Consequences of Smoking – 50 Years of Progress (2014), available at <http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/reports/50-years-of-progress/full-report.pdf> (last visited January 28, 2015).+(last+visited+January+28,+2015).>Google Scholar
Title 11, Chapter 234 of the Minneapolis Code of Ordinances.Google Scholar
Article II, Chapter 66 of the New Orleans City Code.Google Scholar
2006 La. Acts 815 (effective Jan. 1, 2007); La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 40:1300.251–1300.263.Google Scholar
Healthier Air for All, Smoke-Free Venues, available at <http://www.healthierairforall.org/venues> (lasted visited January 28, 2015).+(lasted+visited+January+28,+2015).>Google Scholar
2013 La. Acts 211; La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 40:1300.263.Google Scholar
City of Minneapolis, Minneapolis Blueprint for Action to Prevent Youth Violence (August 2013), available at <http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/public/@health/documents/webcontent/wcms1p-121861.pdf> (last visited January 28, 2015).+(last+visited+January+28,+2015).>Google Scholar
Results Minneapolis: Youth Violence Prevention (October 22, 2014), available at <http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/www/groups/public/@citycoordinator/documents/webcontent/wcms1p-132615.pdf> (last visited January 28, 2015).+(last+visited+January+28,+2015).>Google Scholar
McCarthy, B., “New Orleans Murder Rate Remains Highest in the Nation,” Times Picayune, May 24, 2010, available at <http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/05/new_orleans_murder_rate_remain.html> (last visited January 28, 2015).+(last+visited+January+28,+2015).>Google Scholar
City of New Orleans, NOLA for Life: Comprehensive Murder Reduction Strategy (September 2013), available at <http://www.nolaforlife.org/files/nola-for-life-sept2013-book-pdf_1/> (last visited January 28, 2015).+(last+visited+January+28,+2015).>Google Scholar
City of New Orleans, “NOLA for Life,” available at <http://www.nolaforlife.org/home/> (last visited January 28, 2015).+(last+visited+January+28,+2015).>Google Scholar
City of New Orleans, Mayor Landrieu Announces NOLA for Life Mentoring Initiative, Press Release, November 21, 2014, available at <http://www.nola.gov/mayor/press-releases/2014/20141121-mayor-landrieu-announces-nola-for-life-me/> (last visited January 28, 2015).+(last+visited+January+28,+2015).>Google Scholar