Overview
Backlash to public health responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in the passing of bills designed to curb state and local public health authority. Many of these bills misconstrued critical definitions, legal concepts, and sources of law, while also conflating the roles of the branches of government. This fact sheet provides definitions of legal concepts, clarifying information of the roles of certain government officials with a focus on the source and breadth of public health authority granted to the County Health Officers and local Boards of Health in Maryland.
