Sharon Bernstein, Los Angeles Times
May 18, 2011
The restaurant industry is quietly — and successfully — fighting back against the enactment of so-called Happy Meal bans, which forbid restaurants like McDonald’s to hand out toys with children’s meals that are high in calories.
Moving under the radar so stealthily that in some cases local politicians and anti-obesity activists missed it entirely, lobbyists in Florida and Arizona backed successful efforts to take away the power to enact such bans from cities and counties. In Nebraska, a proposed statewide Happy Meal ban died in February, even before its first legislative committee hearing.
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Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
Preemption News
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Fast-food companies are asking U.S. state legislators to remove restaurant marketing from local governments’ regulatory menu, in the latest industry bid to stay a step ahead of anti-obesity laws.
The lobbying push, which has succeeded in Arizona and gained traction in Florida, aims to stop marketing restrictions before they start. The efforts come as food companies face increasing scrutiny from the U.S. government over how they pitch their products to youngsters as obesity rates rise.
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Monday, May 9th, 2011
Preemption News
By JOHN ESTUS NewsOK.com
Big tobacco companies have hired a slew of influential Oklahoma lobbyists this year to help the industry defeat legislation that would let cities regulate smoking.
At least 13 lobbyists for tobacco companies are at the Capitol this year, up from nine at this time last year, according to the Oklahoma Ethics Commission.
In recent weeks, the lobbyists have ramped up efforts to secure votes against House Bill 2135, which would give cities the power to regulate smoking in public.
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Wednesday, March 9th, 2011
Preemption News
Orlando Sentinel
A year ago, amid complaints from vacation-rental home owners in Southwest Florida, the state Legislature passed a law sparing the homes from being forced to install the fire-sprinkler systems required in conventional hotels.
This year, the Legislature is poised to go even further: Bills have been filed in both the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate that are designed to preempt any future efforts to regulate vacation homes as if they were hotels or motels.
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Monday, March 7th, 2011
Preemption News
Dale Kunkel and Doug Taren
Arizona Daily Star
Last week, Arizona’s House gave preliminary approval to HB 2490, which would make it illegal for any local government to restrict toy giveaways to promote fast-food products, as McDonald’s does with Happy Meals.
It’s important to note that not the slightest hint has surfaced from any city or county statewide that such a regulation is being considered, much less seriously pursued. That fact unmasks this effort for exactly what it is, a hollow political gesture.
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Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011
Preemption News
By Nikki Kasper, SEA Obesity Research Intern
Menu labeling has been touted nationwide as a possible solution to the growing epidemic of obesity among adults and children in the United States. These regulations require restaurants to post nutritional and caloric information of menu items where easily accessed by customers. Six states have passed menu labeling laws in the last several years, and the 2010 spring health care reform included a provision for a national menu labeling law. However, menu labeling was initially pioneered and implemented at the local level.
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Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011
Preemption News
IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED: OML encourages you to contact your House Public Health Committee Members and ask them to vote “YES” on HB 2135 by Speaker Kris Steele.
HB 2135 will remove the local pre-emption currently a part of the Smoking In Public Places and Indoor Workplace Act and allow municipal governments to adopt their own regulations and ordinances in regards to smoking.
Read the action alert
Monday, February 14th, 2011
Preemption News
CONNECTICUT WILL ONCE AGAIN try to take the national lead on the control of lawn and garden pesticides. The state that passed the first law banning pesticides outside of schools and daycare centers in 2005 now has a bill in the legislature that would overturn a pesticide preemption law — that would allow local communities to enact pesticide restrictions that are more stringent than the state law.
Since 1991, when the Canadian town of Hudson, Quebec, became the first municipality in North America to ban lawn and garden pesticides, the chemical industry has been successful in lobbying for pesticide preemption laws in 41 states that made it illegal for cities and towns to pass laws more restrictive than the state law. Only Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Wyoming and the District of Columbia do not have a pesticide preemption law.
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Wednesday, January 26th, 2011
Preemption News
Grassroots movements have a unique power to change public health for the better. This short presentation based on new research funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation explains why grassroots movements are essential to success in public health, what the benefits are, and how to build and support them: Grassroots Presentation.
Thursday, January 20th, 2011
Preemption News
US Department of Labor
ACTION: Request for Information from the public.
SUMMARY: This notice is a request for information from the public regarding the recent amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that requires employers to provide reasonable break time and a place for nursing mothers to express breast milk for one year after their child’s birth. The Department of Labor (‘‘the Department’’) administers and enforces the FLSA through its Wage and Hour Division. Contained in this notice are the Department’s preliminary interpretations of the new break time amendment to the FLSA. The Department seeks information and comments for its review on various issues addressed in this notice, as it considers how best to help employers and employees understand the requirements of the break time for nursing mothers law.
“Relationship to State Laws. The Federal law does not preempt ‘a State law that provides greater protections to employees than the protections provided for under [the Federal law].’’’ 29 U.S.C. 207(r)(4)
Read the request for comments
Thursday, January 6th, 2011
Preemption News
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