In her role as Deputy Director, Climate and Health, Betsy Lawton works on a variety of public health law issues, bringing a community lawyering perspective to her work on climate change, health equity, broadband access, and rural public health. Before joining the Network, Betsy spent over a decade working to improve water quality and represented a broad range of individuals and communities facing water pollution problems. Betsy received her J.D., and a Certificate of Environmental Law, from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2004 and her Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame.
by Overview January 29, 2026 | 12:00 – 1:30 p.m. CTThe federal government has made numerous advances and retreats in terms of environmental…
The divide between states seeking to restrict abortion and states permitting it continues to widen, as the former pursue new, increasingly draconian, maneuvers to restrict abortion access and the latter bolster protections in response. The intra-state conflict incited by this divide is coming to a head in a legal struggle between Texas and New York. The lawsuit, Texas v. Bruck, challenges enforcement of a New York shield law and threatens the viability of such legal safeguards moving forward, with major consequences for reproductive health care access.
While larger public water systems are regulated by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, smaller wells, including private wells serving individual homes and rental properties are not. As natural disasters caused or exacerbated by climate change are on the rise, the one in eight Americans that rely on private wells for drinking water, largely in rural communities, should be aware of the potential health risks that flooding, storms, and wildfires pose for their drinking water. This resource details some statewide laws that require landlords to test water quality and disclose those results to tenants.
Law and policy play a critical role in shaping health outcomes especially when it comes to racial health equity. While legislative actions and trends matter, it is also important to understand the role of the courts in altering legal landscapes in ways that can positively or negatively impact racial health disparities. This fact sheet highlights four 2023 U.S. Supreme Court cases with examples of how each potentially impacts racial health equity. It also provides a further examination of two cases of the cases that can be classified as wins for racial health equity.
While many states require heating equipment to be installed or minimum temperatures maintained in rental dwelling units, few, if any, states have implemented similar requirements to provide cooling equipment to be installed or temperatures be maintained to prevent people from suffering the health effects of extreme heat where they live. As temperatures rise due to climate change, local cities and counties are considering ordinances to do just that. This resource summarizes some key features of selected local ordinances.
With mounting threats to indoor air quality, many public health practitioners and community leaders are looking for practical and legal strategies to improve indoor ventilation and filtration. In addition to the Model Clean Indoor Air Act, one practical strategy to make a quick and cost-effective improvement in indoor air quality – modifying box fans by adding air filters overcomes the barrier to access posed by the high cost of HEPA filters and commercial air purifiers.
Public health law plays a critical role in protecting communities from the current and future health threats posed by climate change. Based on their work with communities and public health professionals, the Network’s Climate and Health team has identified 10 public health law strategies to equitably prepare communities for the health impacts of climate change.
Extreme heat is the number one cause of weather-related death in the United States. Indoor and outdoor workers are particularly at risk during extreme days. This resource outlines federal, state, and local legal and policy protections for indoor and outdoor workers; and barriers to protecting this workforce, including legal methods like preemption – a legal method used by a higher level of government to limit the authority of a lower level of government – that can be used by some to override existing or potential local protections.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one in five private wells contain unhealthy levels of contaminants. While a landmark federal law, the Safe Drinking Water Act, generally protects individuals that use a public water supply from exposure to unsafe levels of regulated contaminants, there is no similar protection for U.S. residents who rely on private wells for water. State laws and policies requiring water quality testing of private wells vary both in scope and the extent to which that water quality data is made available to the public. This resource provides a sample of state laws that highlight key similarities and differences between water quality testing programs.
Extreme heat is the number one cause of weather-related death in the United States. Indoor and outdoor workers are particularly at risk during extreme days. This resource outlines federal, state, and local legal and policy protections for indoor and outdoor workers; and barriers to protecting this workforce, including legal methods like preemption – a legal method used by a higher level of government to limit the authority of a lower level of government – that can be used by some to override existing or potential local protections.
Public health law plays a critical role in protecting communities from the current and future health threats posed by climate change. Based on their work with communities and public health professionals, the Network’s Climate and Health team has identified 10 public health law strategies to equitably prepare communities for the health impacts of climate change.
This Issue Brief, part of a series of analyses looking at resolutions declaring racism a public health crisis in each region of the country, summarizes resolutions in the northern U.S. states of Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. This analysis focuses primarily on resolutions passed by state and local governments, including city councils, county boards, city and county executives, school boards, and boards of health.
