Interesting Reads for GPS Members
“Resources for Reliable Information on Coronavirus in North Carolina.” By Jill Moore, March 2, 2020, Coates’ Canons: NC Local Government Law. From the Article: “The School of Government is compiling resources about North Carolina communicable disease law and the COVID-19 outbreak on its North Carolina Public Health Law microsite. This direct link will take you to those resources. Because I have been receiving a number of questions about North Carolina isolation and quarantine law, the resources include free access to a 2017 book chapter that I wrote on that subject–click here for North Carolina Communicable Disease Law Chapter 6, Isolation and Quarantine Law. The chapter provides an overview of state law but is not specific to the current outbreak.”
“How Will We Know if COVID-19 is in North Carolina? A Look at the State’s Communicable Disease Reporting Laws.” By Jill Moore, March 2, 2020, Coates’ Canons: NC Local Government Law. From the Article: “North Carolina has laws that require health care professionals (and sometimes others) to notify public health officials when they know or suspect that a patient has a condition or disease that has been designated ‘reportable.’ COVID-19 is now reportable in North Carolina. Health care providers who have patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 should notify their local health department or the NC Division of Public Health’s Communicable Disease Branch immediately. This post reviews the North Carolina laws that address communicable disease reporting.”
“New tool examines how U.S. taxes and spending affect income inequality.” Economic Policy Institute, February 21, 2020. From the Press Release: “The U.S. Tax & Spending Explorer allows users to take a deep dive into the ways that the federal government affects the inequality of households’ incomes through taxes and through spending on social insurance and safety net programs. The explorer also examines so-called “tax expenditures,” sometimes referred to as the hidden federal budget.”
“‘They’re in a World of Hurt.’ 39 States to Investigate Juul’s Marketing Tactics.” By Dave Collins and Matthew Perrone, February 25, 2020, TIME. From the Article: “A coalition of 39 states will look into the marketing and sales of vaping products by Juul Labs, including whether the company targeted youths and made misleading claims about nicotine content in its devices[.] . . . The state officials said they also will investigate the company’s claims about the risk, safety and effectiveness of its vaping products as smoking cessation devices.”
“The High Cost of Exclusionary Zoning.” By Eric Biber, February 26, 2020, Lex Jotwell. Reviewing Robert C Ellickson, Zoning and the Cost of Housing: Evidence from Silicon Valley, Greater New Haven, and Greater Austin, available at SSRN, the Article states: “Ellickson’s piece . . . provides something that has been sorely lacking in the debates over how land-use law shapes housing policy and the built form: Data on how the land-use regulatory system actually operates in practice. Up to now, most of the literature (whether economic, planning, or law) that has tackled how land-use regulation operates on the ground has been either speculative, or it has relied on surveys of developers and planners.”
“Supreme Court to consider case of Catholic foster-care agency that won’t place children with LGBT couples.” By Debra Cassens Weiss, February 24, 2020, ABA Journal. From the Article: “The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether Philadelphia can exclude Catholic Social Services from the city’s foster-care program because the agency doesn’t place children with same-sex couples. . . . Catholic Social Services urges the Supreme Court to overturn the 1990 decision Employment Decision v. Smith, which held that the free exercise clause can’t be used to challenge a generally applicable law, even if it burdens religion.”