Emergency Legal Preparedness Among Select US Local Governments

Evan D. Anderson, J.D., a senior legal fellow at PHLR at Temple University Beasley School of Law, and James G. Hodge Jr., J.D., LL.M., write that local legal preparedness is an essential component of effective public health emergency response in a recent article exploring the role of local laws during declared emergencies. The impact of emergency laws at the federal and state levels has been studied extensively. The scope and role of the same types of laws at the local level have not been similarly assessed. In this article, the authors describe the important features of local emergency laws that were found during a survey of local emergency preparedness ordinances. These findings are discussed in the context of the recent H1N1 outbreak with particular emphasis on provisions relating to the deployment of volunteer health professionals.