Mental Health Reform and Aid
statecapitallobbyistLawmakers have paid increasing attention to mental health in recent years. On October 17, 2020, S.2661 became law, requiring the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to designate the telephone number 9-8-8 as the universal national suicide...
States Address Local School Vaccine Policies
statecapitallobbyistWith school starting across the country, whether children need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 has been attracting renewed attention in state legislatures. States like California and New Jersey have begun introducing new legislation that requires...
Genetic Testing Privacy Legislation
Ryan DeMara23andMe, AncestryDNA, and LivingDNA are just a few genetic or ancestry testing options on the consumer market. It has become big business too and is projected to generate a $4.2 billion market value by 2028....
Regulating Kratom: 2022 Update
Ryan StevensAccording to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), kratom (mitragyna speciosa) is a leaf from a tropical tree in Southeast Asia that can cause stimulant and sedative effects. In late June 2022, in conjunction with the...
Fentanyl Test Strips: Legislation Decriminalizing Their Use
Ryan StevensFentanyl test strips are essentially a drug testing technology, initially developed for urinalysis, but can be effective at detecting fentanyl and fentanyl-analogs in samples of drugs. Lawmakers around the country are looking to decriminalize the...
Which States are Proposing Bans on Flavored Tobacco?
Ryan StevensRecent years have seen a rise in the use of flavored tobacco products. According to the American Lung Association, while the smoking rate among adults has decreased from 21.6% in 2003 to 14% in 2019,...
Delta-8 Bans & Carve-Outs: Legislative Update
Ryan StevensWhile much attention is focused on states and the federal government’s efforts to legalize recreational marijuana, there is a new form of thus far unregulated tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) trending—delta-8. Google searches for “delta-8” reportedly grew by...
States’ Reactions to Supreme Court’s Dobbs Ruling: Abortion Access, Trigger Laws, & More
Ryan StevensIn early May, the leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization showed that the conservative majority of the Supreme Court intended to invalidate the holding of Roe v....
Abortion Legislation at the State Level
Ryan StevensFollowing the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion on overturning Roe v. Wade, states may soon be able to increase regulation of abortion and have been passing myriad abortion legislation. At issue before the U.S. Supreme...
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