How Republicans Use "Preemption Laws" To Take Legislative Power Away From The People
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| From "The American Prospect Longform" August 22, 2016 |
John A. Smith, Editor/Founder, New York, August 26, 2016
See how Republican Governors and Republican-controlled State Legislatures are using "Preemption Laws" to take away Cities and local legislators power to create laws that the people in those cities heavily favor. They recently affected Denton, Texas, when they passed a fracking ban in November 2014. "Sure enough, despite widespread local support, it only took months to make Denton’s fracking ban history. The GOP-dominated Texas state legislature, under pressure from the oil and gas industry, passed a law forbidding any locality from banning fracking. Denton’s own state representative voted for the measure." READ MORE: http://prospect.org/article/blue-cities-battle-red-states.
These Republican Governors are affecting local laws passed by the people of those cities and towns in the interest of
corporations and special interests by writing these preemption laws, of
which many are actually written by ALEC (see ALEC Exposed here:http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed ) Preemption laws are being used by state legislatures on issues like gun safety, smoking, anti-discriminatory legislation, LGBTQ legislation, and much much more.
"Minimum preemption” laws have been used for years. They force localities to do something where they might otherwise have done little or nothing, like environmental laws. The federal government has been setting minimum standards of environmental protection for years, preempting the states from allowing lower environmental standards.
"Most current preemption laws, by contrast, are what one might call “maximum preemption.” These laws aren’t about setting minimums; instead, they prohibit local regulation. States have prevented localities from creating paid sick leave requirements for businesses, or raising the minimum wage. Many who oppose these measures blame their proliferation on the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council, known as ALEC, which has drafted “model” preemption bills for state lawmakers to use. “Pretty much anything you can think of that matters to the American family is under assault by local preemption,” says Mark Pertschuk, the director of Grassroots Change, which fights preemption laws around the country reports The American Prospect. "In the last five years, as Republicans have captured an unprecedented number of state legislatures and as cities have become hotbeds for progressive organizing, the number of maximum preemption laws has grown dramatically. In 2011, after Wisconsin passed a bill limiting the local ability to require paid sick days, ALEC and the National Restaurant Association took up the cause, and now 15 states have preempted local paid sick day requirements" READ MORE: http://prospect.org/article/blue-cities-battle-red-states.
LEGAL DEFINITION: "Preemption"
"Minimum preemption” laws have been used for years. They force localities to do something where they might otherwise have done little or nothing, like environmental laws. The federal government has been setting minimum standards of environmental protection for years, preempting the states from allowing lower environmental standards.
"Most current preemption laws, by contrast, are what one might call “maximum preemption.” These laws aren’t about setting minimums; instead, they prohibit local regulation. States have prevented localities from creating paid sick leave requirements for businesses, or raising the minimum wage. Many who oppose these measures blame their proliferation on the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council, known as ALEC, which has drafted “model” preemption bills for state lawmakers to use. “Pretty much anything you can think of that matters to the American family is under assault by local preemption,” says Mark Pertschuk, the director of Grassroots Change, which fights preemption laws around the country reports The American Prospect. "In the last five years, as Republicans have captured an unprecedented number of state legislatures and as cities have become hotbeds for progressive organizing, the number of maximum preemption laws has grown dramatically. In 2011, after Wisconsin passed a bill limiting the local ability to require paid sick days, ALEC and the National Restaurant Association took up the cause, and now 15 states have preempted local paid sick day requirements" READ MORE: http://prospect.org/article/blue-cities-battle-red-states.
LEGAL DEFINITION: "Preemption"
n. the rule of law that if the federal government through Congress has enacted legislation on a subject matter it shall be controlling over state laws and/or preclude the state from enacting laws on the same subject if Congress has specifically stated it has "occupied the field."
Preemption - Legal Dictionary | Law.com
dictionary.law.com/default.aspx?selected=1575Law.com Legal Dictionary
Most current preemption laws, by contrast, are what one might call “maximum preemption.” These laws aren’t about setting minimums; instead, they prohibit local regulation.
States have prevented localities from creating paid sick leave
requirements for businesses, or raising the minimum wage. Many who
oppose these measures blame their proliferation on the conservative
American Legislative Exchange Council, known as ALEC, which has drafted
“model” preemption bills for state lawmakers to use. “Pretty much
anything you can think of that matters to the American family is under
assault by local preemption,” says Mark Pertschuk, the director of
Grassroots Change, which fights preemption laws around the country. - The American Prospect
Earlier this year the Charlotte City Council passed a measure extending civil-rights protections for its LGBT community. The policy also allowed transgender individuals to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity rather than with their biological sex. Including gay and transgender people in anti-discrimination ordinances has become a standard business-friendly move; nationwide, 225 cities and counties have passed similar measures, in part to attract businesses. While Republican Governor Pat McCrory and state legislature leaders threatened to intervene in Charlotte, Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts, an advocate of the measure, wasn’t overly concerned. “I thought they’d make a big noise about it but they’d recognize it was just Charlotte, it’s a progressive city, and they didn’t need to come in and change anything because it would jeopardize the economy,” she says.
But when the state Republicans responded, they sent shockwaves around
the country by passing a maximum preemption measure that invalidated all
local anti-discrimination ordinances, including those protecting women
and racial minorities. Not only did they force transgender people to use
public bathrooms based on their reproductive organs; for good measure,
they also rolled a provision into the bill that forbade any North
Carolina city from increasing the minimum wage. READ MORE: http://prospect.org/article/blue-cities-battle-red-states.
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