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Preemption Toolkit Now Available from Voices for Healthy Kids

Many policies that help make communities healthier start locally. But what if your state lawmakers suddenly passed legislation that took away the ability of community members, city councils, school districts, and counties to help prevent heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes?

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Preemption is when a higher form of government (such as a state legislature) limits a lower form of government (such as a city council) from taking action on an issue. It is becoming an increasingly common state legislative tactic and extending to a greater number of issue areas.

This hurts local democracy and can worsen health disparities among communities.

Everyone should benefit from smart and effective policies but when states block local leaders ability to innovate and enact laws that promote health it is often the communities with the greatest need who are hurt.

Here at Voices for Healthy Kids, we want to work with advocates like you to spur healthy changes in local communities nationwide, and we want to make sure that locally elected officials have the ability to enact laws to support those changes. In our latest toolkit, you’ll find information and resources that can help you advocate for local governments maintaining their ability to pass laws about issues that are important to their communities.

You can access the Preemption Toolkit and join the Preemption Action Team here.