Act for Public Health: Regulating Public Health Measures

About this dataset:

Between January 1, 2021, and May 20, 2022, every state and the District of Columbia introduced a bill addressing state or local authority to impose a specific public health measure, including vaccination requirements, mask mandates, closures of schools, businesses, or places of worship, and isolation or quarantine measures. Though most bills restricted the ability of the state or local authority to regulate these measures, some states also introduced bills that supported and protected these measures.

This longitudinal dataset captures details of legislation regulating public health measures introduced between January 1, 2021, and May 20, 2022, in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. This dataset contains parallel, often overlapping records to show multiple bills that may exist at the same time within a given state. States with such records are indicated on the map with an asterisk; individual record responses can be viewed by clicking on the state within the map or table view. Each individual bill is coded as a separate instance and labeled by its bill number. 

This dataset is one of six that were created in collaboration with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials and the Network for Public Health Law as part of the Act for Public Health initiative.