State lawmakers pushed more than 800 abusive preemption bills across 48 states in 2025. Many of the preemption hotspots the LSSC team tracked - from immigration to anti-DEI efforts - align with the Trump administration’s rhetoric. In fact, it’s impossible to tell the story of preemption in 2025 without considering the impact of the new administration on policy making and people.
Read MoreSince 2012, a growing number of states and municipalities have taken action to protect LGBTQ+ youth from the dangerous and discredited practice of conversion “therapy.” But in recent years, amid escalating political attacks on LGBTQ+ people across virtually every aspect of life, there are also growing attacks on these protections—including through abusive preemption tactics.
Read MoreAs many 2025 state legislative sessions come to a close, abusive preemption once again threatens local control of a number of issues. Across the country, states continue to advance legislation that interferes with the ability of local governments to tailor local solutions for local needs.
Read MoreThe Local Solutions Support Center has updated its resource offering brief summaries of peer-reviewed empirical studies and select additional research demonstrating the impact of these laws.
Read MoreLocal Solutions Support Center (LSSC) is tracking nearly 600 abusive preemption bills so far this year - a significantly higher number of bills than our team identified in all of 2024. The new federal landscape is emboldening state lawmakers to advance harmful preemption bills - with a particular focus on anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ+, and anti-DEI legislation.
Read MoreA look at recent legislative sessions and how state lawmakers across the country are feeling emboldened to continue abusing preemption to intentionally harm LGBTQ+ youth and deprive them of safe and nurturing educational environments.
Read MoreA look at how the Local Solutions Support Center has tracked abusive preemption bills – in 25 states – that attack local authority on immigration policies in the 2025 legislative session.
Read MoreJust seven weeks into 2025, we’re already seeing more of the same concerning activity as it relates to abusive preemption. Some of the most egregious examples of preemption bills have been introduced in Tennessee and Texas. Here’s a deep dive into both states.
Read MoreThanks to the relentless work of advocates, activists, and policymakers across our ecosystem, we have a growing sense of the tactics we can use to counter abusive preemption and call out its true purpose. LSSC’s new report can serve as action-oriented inspiration for both the well-tenured and emerging leaders whose creativity and passion pushes our fight forward.
Read MoreThe fourth edition of The Local Power & Politics Review explores how abusive preemption legislation has permeated so many areas of American policy. The new edition covers a wide range of issue areas – from abortion access to local environmental action to LGBTQ+ equality to prosecutorial discretion.
Read MoreA new white paper from Local Progress and Local Solutions Support Center (LSSC), Driving Toward Equitable Traffic Enforcement, offers local advocates and policymakers a roadmap for advancing traffic safety policies that promote driving equity - while highlighting preemption-related concerns to keep in mind.
Read MoreRick Su, Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law, has written a new white paper for LSSC that charts the growth and evolution of immigration-related preemption measures in recent years.
Read MoreA new white paper by Richard Briffault for Local Solutions Support Center (LSSC), Preemption of Local Election Administration, looks at how legislatures are working to advance abusive preemption measures designed to burden LEOs and limit their ability to promote democracy.
Read MoreOur new report, Preemption’s Role in Undermining American Democracy: 2024 Legislative Session Overview, tracks the 411 abusive preemption bills LSSC identified nationwide this year across 16 different issue spaces. This report explores the major areas of everyday life where lawmakers and corporations are advancing preemption in an effort to undermine democracy.
Read MoreThis paper is a brief update to our earlier white paper, “Preempting Progress: States Take Aim at Local Prosecutors,” cataloging attempts to curtail the discretion of local prosecutors. In this update, we also address successful efforts to push back against the efforts to strip power from local prosecutors and the communities that elected them.
Read MoreIn a new paper from A Better Balance, Local Solutions Support Center, and Equality Federation, we trace the local roots of LGBTQ+ equality in the United States and highlight the different types of abusive preemption that target local authority to protect LGBTQ+ individuals.
Read MoreStates have begun to impair or eradicate whole realms of local authority entirely. This White Paper explains the historical underpinnings of this rapidly emerging trend, the forms this preemption is taking, and the reasons why structural change to bolster local authority in the face of this new preemption is ever-more critical.
Read MoreLSSC’s latest report, Protecting Local Democracy: 2023 Legislative Session Overview, explores all the preemption trends that played out in states across the country this past year. The report also highlights what issues advocates are most concerned about as we head into 2024.
Read More“State takeovers of public schools and districts is one prong of a multi-prong approach to dismantling resistance to oppressive legislation,” Steven L. Nelson, Ph.D. writes.
Read MoreThe scope of abusive preemption bills is widening – from Death Star preemption; to efforts to undermine the power of reform-oriented prosecutors; to discriminating against transgender youth; to making it harder for local officials to successfully conduct elections. LSSC’s mid-session report explores the top trends we’re tracking so far this session, as well as a few promising victories that advocates are securing.
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