Resource Collection

Missouri’s 115 local public health agencies (LPHAs) provide key public health functions to Missouri residents, including assessing local health needs and risks; developing policies and planning programs to improve health; and enforcing public health laws and promoting equitable access to basic health care. Like all local health departments across the country, Missouri’s LPHAs rely on state-specific legal authority granted via the state constitution, statutes, and regulations to perform these functions. Access to state-specific legal information is essential for LPHAs to fulfill their responsibilities efficiently and effectively. The Network for Public Health Law partnered with the Missouri Center for Public Health Excellence to provide the training, legal technical assistance, and resources listed here to support Missouri’s local public health agencies.

As the climate crisis continues to accelerate, public health departments must work with communities to create mitigation and prevention measures to protect health. Government entities often seek guidance on how to meaningfully engage communities and on what solutions will best support underserved communities. Community members need accessible open processes and solutions that will help communities at the frontline of climate change. To support this work, we have created a toolkit on community-centered emergency response and preparedness and a toolkit on community-centered solutions to extreme heat.

This collection includes resources that explore program and policy approaches for all levels of government, public health advocates, non-profit organizations, and others, to improve housing affordability and availability and thereby improve the health and wellbeing of families in their communities and across the country.

This series explores state- and local-level legal and policy approaches towards reducing tenant displacement and eviction and providing supports to prevent housing instability and homelessness.

Nationwide, state and local public health officials working to protect the public from COVID-19 are on the receiving end of threatening and harassing conduct for simply fulfilling their duty to protect the public health. In response, the Network conducted research to examine whether the states and Washington, D.C., have criminal statutes punishing individuals who impede public health officials’ duties with such behavior.

Federal law bans convicted drug felons from receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. This brief discusses the public health consequences of rescinding nutritional assistance from people with drug convictions. The 50-State Survey examines how states have reacted to the ban, by either leaving it in place, removing it, or modifying it.

by Overview Public health attorneys and practitioners are developing incredibly useful tools to support important data sharing during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope…

This document provides active hyperlinks to key resources in Emergency Legal Preparedness developed by attorneys/staff via the Network for Public Health Law. Resources are categorized into 12 diverse topic areas listed on the first page of the document.

This toolkit is intended for privacy officers, public health practitioners and their attorneys. It includes legal, policy and practical guidance to understand and implement HIPAA’s hybrid entity option.

This toolkit provides public health practitioners and others with the tools and resources to better understand de-identification for improved collection and use activities, and to more freely, safely and legally disclose de-identified data needed for the community’s information infrastructure.

These legal snapshots give an overview of the basic legal requirements of different federal data protection laws to help public health professionals and researchers understand how different federal laws might apply to a proposed data activity. They also provide links to full text versions of the law and other federal resources.