The Rise of State Preemption Laws in Response to Local Policy Innovation

Lori Riverstone-Newell

Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 2017, vol. 47, issue 3, 403-425

Abstract: This article analyzes the increasing use of state preemption law by conservative state leaders as a tool to rein in progressive local governments. The scope and special qualities of recent state preemption laws are explored by examining legislation preempting local fracking bans, preventing minimum wage ordinances, targeting sanctuary city policies, overturning LGBT rights ordinances, and enacting blanket preemption measures. Reasons for the recent surge of state preemption laws are suggested, and the overall effectiveness of these laws is discussed. I conclude that rising conservative dominance of state legislatures has provided the opportunity to thwart progressive local policies, and these efforts have been aided by various industry and conservative organized groups. State preemption laws are not always successful in their aims. In some cases, state supreme courts have sided with local officials’ claims of state overreach. In others, local officials have simply refused to comply. In any case, the threat of preemption may have a chilling effect on local policy innovation.

Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/publius/pjx037 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:publus:v:47:y:2017:i:3:p:403-425.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Publius: The Journal of Federalism is currently edited by Paul Nolette and Philip Rocco

More articles in Publius: The Journal of Federalism from CSF Associates Inc. Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().