By the middle of the 2026 legislative session, Local Solutions Support Center (LSSC) tracked nearly 850 abusive preemption bills across states currently in legislative session.

This post by Alina Schnake-Mahl, ScD, MPH and Leah Schinasi, MSPH, PhD focuses on state lawmakers pushing abusive preemption measures about heat protection, or neglecting to pass heat protection policies.

Many state legislatures have made it illegal for local governments to adopt these measures in recent years.

Localities must be able to respond to the unique needs of workers who cannot survive on the federal or state minimum wage.

The second edition features a series of articles that explore how some states preempted local authority across a host of issues during the pandemic.

This new report highlights how state lawmakers in the Midwest have abused preemption to impede progress on a variety of issues that would improve the economic security and well-being of residents. 

14 authors were tasked with working as advocate-researcher co-authors to produce short articles highlighting recent research findings, emerging issues, and data and research needs across seven policy fields.

This model resolution is geared towards helping local officials and advocates push their legislature and governor to clarify local authority pertaining to key policies around housing, worker protection, and broadband access.