Network Report Thursday, April 7, 2022 
Join us for a town hall at the 2022 Public Health Law Summit with representatives from the newly created Act for Public Health, a working group recently formed to provide resources, legal technical assistance, and training to help public health officials push back against attempts to block their ability to protect the health of communities. The town hall will involve round table discussions where participants will be invited to share current and anticipated challenges to their ability to respond to natural disasters, disease outbreaks, and other health threats, and how Act for Public Health can assist now and with strategies going forward. Learn more and register soon – space is running out! . 
Cultural Healing: A New (Old) Paradigm for Creating Healthy Communities In the debate about how to incorporate cultural differences (which are often deeply intertwined with racial identity) into dominant social structures to create just outcomes, cultural healing often receives little attention. Cultural healing reconnects people to the vibrancy and strengths of their culture and in doing so, enhances health and wellness. However, embedding cultural healing practices will require legal reforms that institutionalize culturally inclusive practices.
From Pandemic to Endemic: Legislative Oversight and Termination of Public Health Emergencies As we enter the third year of COVID-19, we are seeing the transition from a pandemic to an endemic. With this shift comes the staged termination of public health emergency measures used to respond to COVID-19 and its variants. Unknown is how our existing legal framework will bring about the end of the pandemic measures consistent with appropriate oversight by legislative and executive branches. New Mexico provides one example of what this transition might look like. 
50-State Legislative Bill Survey: Summary of Pending Bills Limiting Public Health Authority We know that public health interventions work. Yet, as communities continue to grapple with COVID-19, more than half of U.S. states have passed legislation that will undermine public health now and in the future, and similar legislation is being considered in other states. This resource details COVID-19-related legislation and broader proposed limitations on public health authority introduced in all 50 states (and the District of Columbia) from September 1, 2021 through March 15, 2022. These bills include shifts in authority limitations on emergency orders, and measures related to public health interventions including vaccination, testing, and mask requirements.
Guidance: State COVID-19 Emergency Declaration Since the inception of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, every state, most territories, hundreds of tribal governments, and thousands of municipalities have declared various levels of emergencies. This document provides a comprehensive snapshot of the current status of various state-level emergency declarations issued in response to COVID-19 based on data provided by the National Governors Association, the Network, and other sources.
Federal Vaccine Mandates in Response to COVID-19 Federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates have generated significant legal controversies from their inception. Although federal vaccine requirements have been issued prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the scope of existing COVID-19 mandates has been directly opposed by federal, state, and local officials, as well as private sector entities and individuals. Dozens of cases challenging federal vaccine mandates have been filed in courts nationally. This fact sheet lists and briefly explains the slate of federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates along with a “snapshot” assessment of their current legal status based on select case outcomes. 
Modernizing Consent: Creating a Replicable Model to Advance Health and Equity 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. EST | April 7, 2022 Attend this webinar, sponsored by the Network and All In: Data for Community Health, to learn about a new Consent Service Utility pilot project to modernize the consent process and enable use across healthcare, behavioral health, and social and human services, including housing, and child welfare, among others.
Announcements Call for APHA Law Section Abstracts Now Open The APHA Law Section seeks abstracts that focus on current hot topics in public health law or are relevant to APHA’s 2022 Annual Meeting & Expo theme, “150 Years of Creating the Healthiest Nation: Leading the Path Toward Equity.” Abstracts are due by April 30, 2022. The Law Section has a preference for abstracts on legal research, theory or practice developed by or in collaboration with lawyers or law students.
The Network has extended the deadline to submit proposals for panels or individual presentations for the Network’s Climate Change, Health Equity, and Public Health Law Summit taking place in Minneapolis, MN from October 12-14, 2022. We encourage anyone working at the intersection of climate change, public health, health equity, and law and policy to apply. We are interested in presentations from a wide variety of perspectives, including public health practitioners, community-based organizations, environmental organizations, attorneys, researchers, community members, and others. Submissions will be accepted through April 8, 2022.
Worth Sharing Public Health and Equity Resource Navigator Public Health and Equity Resource Navigator (PHERN) was created by the American Public Health Association (APHA) and the Institute for People, Place, and Possibility (IP3) as an online home for over 1,000 hand-curated resources, stories, tools, and datasets designed to help changemakers navigate resources focused on ending the pandemic, advancing equity, and building a resilient, robust, sustainable public health system for the future.
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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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