Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4hhp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-02T13:19:15.691Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

State Health Department Employees, Policy Advocacy, and Political Campaigns: Protections and Limits under the Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Shannon Frattaroli ,
Keshia M. Pollack ,
Jessica L. Young  and
Jon S. Vernick
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

State health departments are at the core of the United States (U.S.) public health infrastructure. Surveillance to monitor trends in disease and injury; the development, coordination, and delivery of services; and public education are some of the core functions health department employees oversee every day. As such, agencies and their employees are well positioned to inform policy decisions that affect the public’s health. However, little is known about the role of health department staff — a sizeable proportion of the public health workforce — as advocates for public health policies, independent of their agency roles. Anecdotally, some health department employees with whom we have spoken expressed reluctance to engage in policy advocacy for fear of violating little known or understood agency or state rules.

Type
JLME Supplement
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 43 , Issue S1 , Spring 2015 , pp. 64 - 68
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2015

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Institute of Medicine, Who Will Keep the Public Healthy? Educating Public Health Professionals for the 21st Century (Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press, 2003); Institute of Medicine, The Future of Public's Health in the 21st Century (Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press, 2002).Google Scholar
Council on Linkages between Academia and Public Health Practice, Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals, 2014, available at <http://www.phf.org/resourcestools/Documents/Core_Competencies_for_Public_Health_Professionals_2014June.pdf> (last visited January 8, 2015).+(last+visited+January+8,+2015).>Google Scholar
Hearne, S. A., “Practice-Based Teaching for Health Policy Action and Advocacy,” Public Health Reports 123, Supp. 2 (2008): 65–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
American Public Health Association (APHA), “Advocacy for Public Health,” available at <https://www.apha.org/policies-and-advocacy/advocacy-for-public-health> (last visited January 8, 2015); Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), “2014 Advocacy Materials,” available at <http://www.astho.org/Public-Policy/2014-Advocacy-Materials/?terms=advocacy> (last visited January 8, 2015); Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE), Guide to Effectively Educating State and Local Policymakers, Washington, D.C., available at <http://www.sophe.org/ChronicDiseasePolicy/Full_Guide.pdf> (last visited January 8, 2015).+(last+visited+January+8,+2015);+Association+of+State+and+Territorial+Health+Officials+(ASTHO),+“2014+Advocacy+Materials,”+available+at++(last+visited+January+8,+2015);+Society+for+Public+Health+Education+(SOPHE),+Guide+to+Effectively+Educating+State+and+Local+Policymakers,+Washington,+D.C.,+available+at++(last+visited+January+8,+2015).>Google Scholar
Chapman, S., Public Health Advocacy and Tobacco Control: Making Smoking History (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, Ltd., 2007); Wallack, L. Dorfman, L., “Media Advocacy: A Strategy for Advancing Policy and Promoting Health,” Health Education Quarterly 23, no. 3 (1996): 293–317; Liller, K. D., Injury Prevention for Children and Adolescents: Research, Practice, and Advocacy, 2nd ed. (Washington, D.C.: American Public Health Association, 2012).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams-Crowe, S. M. Aultman, T. V., “State Health Agencies and the Legislative Policy Process,” Public Health Reports 109, no. 3 (1994): 361–367.Google Scholar
Hatch Act Modernization Act of 2012, Public Law 112–230, 112th Congress, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Consolidated Appropriations Act 2012, Public Law 11274,112th Congress, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
National Council of State Legislators (NCSL), “Staff and Political Activity – Statues,” available at <http://www.ncsl.org/research/ethics/50statetablestaffandpoliticalactivitystatutes.aspx> (last visited January 8, 2015).+(last+visited+January+8,+2015).>Google Scholar
National Council of State Legislators (NCSL), “Initiative and Referendum,” available at <http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/initiative-and-referendum.aspx> (last visited January 8, 2015).+(last+visited+January+8,+2015).>Google Scholar