Network Report Thursday, March 11, 2021 
Eviction has damaging health consequences that can last lifetimes, or even generations. Nationwide, Black and Hispanic renters in general, and women in particular, are disproportionately threatened with eviction and disproportionately evicted from their homes. Attend this webinar to learn about state and local legal approaches to preventing eviction and its devastating public health consequences. Learn more.
On January 28, President Biden issued the Memorandum on Protecting Women’s Health at Home and Abroad to address the previous administration’s “global” and “domestic” rules preventing U.S.- funded entities from consulting on, referring for, or providing abortion services, which presented clear obstacles to healthcare access for low-income women in the U.S. and globally. The memorandum is an important step toward increasing access to reproductive care.
COVID-19’s Impact on State Public Health Laws Requires Careful Deliberation, Not a Rush to Legislate As efforts are made to examine and evaluate the response to COVID-19 both generally and within public health specifically, states are taking a variety of approaches. Legislators in some states are seeking to clarify and bolster emergency powers and public health authority, while legislators in other states are seeking to curtail them sharply. The process unfolding in state legislatures has the potential to affect substantive developments in emergency powers and public health authority for years to come and should therefore be done only after careful consideration and discussion.
Public Health Law News Roundup Some of the public health law and policy issues in the headlines in recent weeks include the Biden administration’s efforts to implement a national COVID-19 testing strategy; the city of Sante Fe’s innovative approach to addressing homelessness; a House bill that would significantly expand voting rights; a Colorado bill providing added protections for public health workers; vaccine mandates for health care workers; a new law in California that expands access to mental health and addiction treatments; and COVID-19 vaccination registration and information websites that violate disability laws. 
FAQ: COVID-19 and Health Data Privacy This FAQ addresses questions of HIPAA compliance and requirements with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic, including disclosures to close contacts; disclosures through a health information exchange, disclosures to a housing authority; disclosures to a homeless shelter; disclosures to cities; disclosures by school nurses and reporting to public health.
Announcements Network Now Accepting Applications for Strategic Equity Consultant
Undergraduate Public Health Law Survey Researchers at the University of Rochester are soliciting survey responses from those teaching undergraduate courses in public health. They note that despite extensive graduate level teaching of core courses in public health law among law, public health, and medical schools, considerably less is known as to whether similar courses are taught in undergraduate public health programs at universities, colleges and junior colleges nationally. You can participate in the survey here.
Worth Sharing March 24, 2021 | Virtual The National Association of Local Boards of Health (NALBOH) is offering a symposium to help meet the educational and training needs of board of health members and provide opportunities for networking and sharing experiences in light of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sessions will focus on policy, advocacy, board of health resources and messaging, and lessons learned through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Introductory Policy Surveillance Training March 16, 2021 This webinar, hosted by Center for Public Health Law Research, will use real-world examples and interactive lessons to briefly introduce scientific legal mapping and give a broad overview of the steps involved in the policy surveillance process. Scientific legal mapping techniques (which include policy surveillance) create data suitable for use in rigorous evaluation studies, address the chronic lack of readily accessible, nonpartisan information about the status and trends in legislation and policy, and provide the opportunity to build policy capacity in the public health workforce by speeding diffusion of innovation.
Charting the Legality of Religious-Based Exemptions to COVID-19 Vaccinations James Hodge Jr., director of the Network’s Western Region Office, co-authored this article, published in Berkeley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affair’s Berkley Forum, examining the legal issues surrounding possible future claims that religious freedoms are being violated in response to potential increases in vaccine mandates.
Job Opportunity Staff Attorney/Senior Staff Attorney The Public Health Law Center, a public interest affiliate of Mitchell Hamline School of Law in Saint Paul, Minnesota, is hiring a full-time Staff Attorney/Senior Staff Attorney to work in the Commercial Tobacco Control Program. Preference will be given to candidates who have relevant experience in one or more of the following: public health law, Tribal law, federal Indian law, housing law, municipal law, land use planning, or administrative law. Candidates with experience drafting, implementing, or enforcing local, state, or Tribal laws, are also preferred.
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Thank you! Your interest in the work of the Network is important. Together, we can advance law as a tool to improve public health. Please forward the Network Report and encourage others to join the Network! The Network for Public Health Law provides information and technical assistance on issues related to public health. The legal information and assistance provided in this document does not constitute legal advice or legal representation. For legal advice, readers should consult a lawyer in their state.
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