Local Solutions Support Center

Missouri citizens approved several pro-worker ballot initiatives in the last election, & now the state legislature is trying to undo those protections. Blatant abusive preemption: news.bloomberglaw.com/employment/m...

Cities should be able to legislate according to communities’ needs, but outdated laws are preempting the ability to take meaningful action. Learn more about how laws from the 1960s are preventing Detroit from levying tourist taxes: www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Vj...

When states restrict the rights of local govs & cede authority to the federal government, they open the door to abuses of power across policy areas. Read @jordanz.bsky.social's interview with LSSC’s Katie Belanger on the dangers of abusive preemption efforts. www.progressreport.news/p/how-states...

Reform-minded prosecutors were democratically elected, and now, state lawmakers are using preemption to override them and the autonomy of the cities they represent. Read more in a new post by Cristine Soto DeBerry of @prosecutorsact.bsky.social: bit.ly/46HVzBr

Last legislative session, lawmakers continued their attacks on LGBTQ+ equality through over 100 abusive preemption bills, with the majority of the attacks focused on reducing the rights and freedoms of transgender communities. Read our full report 🏳️‍🌈⚖️ www.supportdemocracy.org/blueprintfor...

Legislation in Florida & 10 other states to create their own Departments of Government Efficiency would allow state governments to audit every action taken & dollar spent by local governments. This is a dangerous attempt to consolidate power – read more ⬇️ www.tallahassee.com/story/news/l...

Cutting school vaccine requirements, removing fluoride from water supplies, less coverage for COVID-19 vaccines – these are just a few of the dangerous preemptive tactics state lawmakers are using to attack public health. Get the facts in our new post: www.supportdemocracy.org/the-latest/t...

Attacks on election integrity, public health, & local authority to pass laws related to every sphere of life – we expect abusive preemption bills in these areas to continue impacting the rights + freedoms of communities in 2026. Read our full report 📝 www.supportdemocracy.org/the-latest/2...

It’s not just Trump. Red states are cracking down on their own blue cities. In Mississippi, GOP lawmakers expanded the reach of the Capitol Police in Jackson and created a separate judicial system there.

Lawmakers in red states are using abusive preemptive tactics to target communities in blue cities. Overriding the authority of local police forces & imposing parallel judicial systems are designed to reduce local resources + accountability. Get the facts: www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...

Legislation in Florida & 10 other states to create their own Departments of Government Efficiency would allow state governments to audit every action taken & dollar spent by local governments. This is a dangerous attempt to consolidate power – read more ⬇️ bit.ly/41Nkba9

Communities should decide what’s best for them, but the government is trying to enforce an abusive anti-immigrant agenda – and local lawmakers across the country are helping them by pushing anti-democratic preemption laws. Get the facts in our new report: www.supportdemocracy.org/blueprintfor...

This legislative session, lawmakers continued to try to enforce their political & religious agendas on schools through abusive preemption bills that restrict DEI efforts & require the 10 Commandments to be displayed in classrooms. Full report 📝https://www.supportdemocracy.org/blueprintforautocracy

Dismantling Protections against Conversion “Therapy” – An Emerging Front in Abusive State Preemption — Local Solutions Support Center In recent years, there have been a growing number of attacks on states and municipalities that have taken action to protect LGBTQ+ youth from the dangerous and discredited practice of conversion “ther...

There are growing attacks on protections from so-called "conversion therapy" protections—including through abusive preemption tactics. Read more in this "Preemption Research Spotlight", by @loganscasey.bsky.social, PhD, of the Movement Advancement Project: bit.ly/45OO2jN

2025 Legislative Session Overview – Blueprint for Autocracy: How State Preemption is Fueling Destructive & Discriminatory Policy Trends — Local Solutions Support Center State lawmakers pushed more than 800 abusive preemption bills across 48 states this year. Many of the preemption hotspots the LSSC team tracked - from immigration to anti-DEI efforts - align with the ...

OUT NOW: LSSC’s end-of-session report, exploring the troubling connection between the descent into authoritarianism +state preemption trends, highlighting key trends from 2025 – like preemption that harms LGBTQ+ people, immigrants, and working people: bit.ly/45ONXwv

Many workers are struggling in Detroit – and one of the key culprits is PA 105, a law that the Michigan legislature passed in 2015 banning local governments from being able to regulate wages and working conditions. New oped from Michigan @workingfamilies.org: www.detroitnews.com/story/opinio...

Heritage Prez Tells Right-Wing State Legislators to De-charter, Take Over Blue Capital Cities No democracy for you, urban voters! Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts says the "second American Revolution" is renewing self-governance in same speech he tells right-wing legislators to de-c...

The far-right Heritage Foundation has for years been calling on state legislators to "take over" governance of blue cities in red states. This is textbook preemption, taking away local decision-making from the leaders who know their communities best, and we can't stand for it. bit.ly/4frsmOQ

Appeals court says Ohio legislative effort to block local tobacco laws unconstitutional The Tenth District Court of Appeals sided with cities in a July 8 ruling, saying efforts by Ohio lawmakers to bar local tobacco laws are unconstitutional.

Step forward in Ohio! An appeals court unanimously ruled the OH legislature can't preempt city govts from regulating tobacco products. It's a big win for efforts to block abusive preemption – congrats to local advocates and legal teams leading this effort. www.dispatch.com/story/news/c...

State DOGEs’ next frontiers could preempt local authority Specific legislation designed to strip localities of their power has been introduced in several states, all in the name of government efficiency.

“It's this suspicion or distrust of local management and authority, a presumption that state officials know better how to spend money, how to allocate resources, how to make decisions for that local population.” Read the full article: www.route-fifty.com/people/2025/... 2/2

“There is this subset [of DOGE] that is encroaching into what local governments can do,” Leslie Zellers, LSSC’s legal team co-lead, told @routefifty.bsky.social in a recent interview about state-level DOGE copycats that are hurting local communities. 1/2 www.route-fifty.com/people/2025/...

Katie Belanger from our team joined @jasongarcia.bsky.social on his podcast "Seeking Rents" to give an overview of how abusive preemption hollows out home rule, robs communities of autonomy, and seizes power for state legislators. Don't miss the episode: jasongarcia.substack.com/p/your-town-...

LSSC Spotlight Series: Feroza Freeland, Policy Director of the Southern Office, A Better Balance — Local Solutions Support Center Meet Feroza Freeland, Policy Director of the Southern Office for A Better Balance. She is a Tennessee native who leverages creative advocacy tactics to achieve progress and deliver concrete policy win...

"They take away the right to self-determination for so many communities across the South. It’s really problematic." Read the full interview: bit.ly/3Tb7ZeA 3/3

"So we have a dynamic where our communities, which are a lot more diverse, are trying to make decisions that we feel are best for us; decisions that will protect our health and safety. But then these majority white male legislatures come in and take that power away." 2/3

LSSC Spotlight Series: Feroza Freeland, Policy Director of the Southern Office, A Better Balance — Local Solutions Support Center Meet Feroza Freeland, Policy Director of the Southern Office for A Better Balance. She is a Tennessee native who leverages creative advocacy tactics to achieve progress and deliver concrete policy win...

Feroza Freeland of @abetterbalance.org shares how preemption & racial/gender justice intersect in the latest edition of our Spotlight Series. She says "A lot of our Southern communities are very diverse, but our state legislators are often primarily white men." bit.ly/3Tb7ZeA 1/3

DOGE trend hits Texas, Jacksonville governments The Lone Star State became the latest to sign legislation establishing its own Department of Government Efficiency, while Jacksonville appears to be among the first cities to set up a DOGE.

The trend of state legislatures setting up versions of so-called DOGE is textbook abusive preemption: State actors intervening against local communities, often to block progressive actions that serve marginalized communities. More in @routefifty.bsky.social: bit.ly/3H3uy23

How Abusive Preemption Undermines Rural Democracy and What We Can Do About It - State Innovation Exchange How Abusive Preemption Undermines Rural Democracy and What We Can Do About It

This new piece from our partners at @stateinnovation.org explores the impacts of abusive preemption on rural democracy. "These laws have allowed corporations to exploit land and resources and tied the hands of county or local governments." stateinnovation.org/preemption-u...

A long trend: How the Idaho Legislature has removed local governments’ powers • Idaho Capital Sun Years after the COVID pandemic, Idaho's Republican supermajority-controlled Legislature stripped public health powers from local governments.

More than a dozen bills in Idaho this year attempted to abuse preemption in order to restrict the power of local governments. This piece in @idahocapitalsun.com breaks it down: idahocapitalsun.com/2025/04/14/a...

State-level anti-LGBTQ bills have real, negative impacts on states, well-being of residents • Ohio Capital Journal LGBTQ+ advocacy groups from Ohio and across the country say state-level legislation has had broad-based impacts on the rights and well-being of their communities.

Dwayne Steward of @equalityohio.bsky.social shared in our LGBTQ+ briefing that preemption is increasingly being abused by OH lawmakers, including in "targeted legislation toward anti-DEI & anti-trans measures.” Read how this tool is being abused to harm LGBTQ+ people: bit.ly/3G2Ex7k

@bayareareporter.bsky.social covered our Reporter Briefing focused on how abusive preemption legislation hurts the LGBTQ+ community. “We’ve seen this go from a tool of balance to one that undermines democracy and local rights," said Jared Make of @abetterbalance.org: www.ebar.com/story/153635/

2025 Trends in State Preemption Legislation — Local Solutions Support Center We take a look at preemption trends in state abusive preemption legislation, even as the new federal landscape further emboldens state lawmakers to advance harmful preemption bills, with a particular ...

In 2025 there have been nearly 600 abusive preemption bills already filed in states across the country, with a particular focus on anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ+, and anti-DEI legislation. We've synthesized trends we're seeing so far here – spread the word: www.supportdemocracy.org/the-latest/2...

Local leaders should be able to lead on issues that matter to their community – but far too often, local policymaking is undermined by abusive preemption. Hundreds of bills seek to curtail public health authority, stifle voting rights, and advance animus against BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities.