Should Your State Have A Public Health Law Center? Jill Moore, Marice Ashe, Patricia Gray, and Doug Blanke (Moderator)

rn Doug Blanke he Tobacco Control Legal Consortium is a 1 national “network” designed to tap expertise

about tobacco control legislation and to leverage existing resources. Based at the William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota, the Con- sortium supports local counsel with research, strategic advice, sample materials and pleadings, and amicus briefs. The Consortium’s priorities are to support capacity nationally, to offer education, and to perform outreach activities to a variety of audiences.

The Consortium seeks to advance policy change by making legal expertise more readily available to the tobacco control community. Legal issues are inevitably involved in policy change. The Consortium does not provide legal representa- tion, but conducts analysis and research. They publish on important and emerging legal issues as well as on specific cases, assist in the development of legislation, and train public health practitioners and policy makers on recurring legal issues. The Consortium serves health departments, advocates, public attorneys and local counsel, and they fill the gap in states that provide no legal resources for tobacco control.

m Jill Moore he University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Government is comprised of

an Institute of Government and a Master of Public Administration program. The Institute is a non- partisan, non-advocacy organization. In 200 1-02, Institute faculty taught 236 courses for 14,000 public officials, conducted research, published 26 books and hundreds of articles, advised public

officials on long- and short-term projects, and responded to more than 100,000 telephone inquiries. The faculty has expertise in judicial branch law and education, public administration and finance, governance and public leadership, and many areas of public law, including public health law. Strictly speaking, the Institute of Government is not a public health law center, as public health law is only one small part of its work. Nevertheless, the Institute does provide a great deal of legal support to public health practi- tioners in North Carolina, principally through two full-time and two part-time faculty members who specialize in different areas of public health law. The public health law faculty provide education and technical assistance to county managers, county attorneys, local health directors and health department staff, and judges, among others. Special topic seminars and the Institute’s website (w ww. iog . unc . edu) supplements annua I legal conferences and courses for these client groups.

A University-based public health law center, such as the Institute, offers several advantages. Tenure-track faculty appointments provide pro- tection for faculty members who must sometimes dispense unpopular advice. In addition, the academic environment allows Institute faculty members to specialize in specific areas, while simultaneously forging links to the practice community.

m Marice Ashe he California Technical Assistance Legal Center (TALC) helps public health practi-

tioners understand the scope of local police powers, design state and local health codes, and

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engage in rulemaking and administering regula- tions. Their constituents are primarily tobacco control advocates at local health departments and community-based organizations, but also include government attorneys, elected officials, and com- munity and state agencies and organizations. TALC answers legal questions for public health officials such as when a public health official has a legal duty to act, what a public health official’s legal power to act is, and what must be done to protect liberty and property interests. TALC helps to answer these questions by building capacity within the community to understand legal issues, providing analysis, interpreting and developing model ordinances, and enhancing collaboration. TALC assists communities with strategic plan- ning, promotes policy development, and provides consultation on litigation strategy from a very practical point of view.

m Patricia Gray he Houston Law Center founded the Health ‘I’ Law and Policy Institute in 1978. The

Institute educates law students, policy makers, researchers, and the public about developments in health care and the legal and ethical implications of those developments. It is funded by grants for specific research and by a $400,000 state budget

line item. Because the Institute is supported by an academic institution, it is prevented from con- ducting advocacy work. Instead, it educates legis- lators on a variety of timely health care policy issues and conducts health care-related research to support state agency activities. It also produces user-friendly publications for both lawyers and lay readers. Its Website has links to both federal and state regulations and court decisions that impact health care.

Many issues impact the development of states’ health care-related regulatory schemes, including advances in bench and medical science and technology, occupational and product safety issues, and the expansion of social programs (e.g., the Americans With Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act [HIPAA]). The Institute helps state legislators and agency offi- cials wrestle with the underlying related practical and ethical aspects of new laws and regulatory schemes. A public health law institute, such as the Health Law and Policy Institute in Texas, can help states address a variety of timely issues such as privacy, security of and access to information in the post-9/11 world, health provider licensing issues, reproductive technology, immunization, genetic testing, cellular cloning, and end of life planning concerns.

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