State preemption laws have increased over the past decade, limiting local policymaking authority in issues ranging from housing to labor, environment, and health. The COVID-19 pandemic led to more of these laws, as states prohibited city and county governments from adopting their own policy responses, including mask mandates and business closures. Advocates for local-level policymaking authority argue that the increasing use of state preemption has constrained localities’ ability to govern and innovate based on local conditions and needs.

Over the past few years, Urban Institute researchers, including myself, have examined preemption from multiple angles, from the effectiveness of often-preempted municipal policies and how state preemption affected local lawmaking during the pandemic to the validity of claims that local laws produce a harmful “patchwork” of regulations.

One way of realigning state and local policymaking priorities could be stronger action by the federal government, which has long cooperated with local governments and provided substantial fiscal support for municipalities. More broadly, federal policymaking influences local policymaking, regulation, and enforcement. Federal policies enforce everything from local land use to labor, immigration, education, transportation, environmental regulations, and telecommunications policies.

Those interested in promoting local autonomy could think creatively about how the federal government may help realign federal, state, and local policy priorities. One way the federal role can promote local policy innovation, even in states that tend to preempt a broader range of local laws, is municipal broadband.

Municipal broadband has long been considered a best practice by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reach communities unserved or underserved by high-speed internet. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of internet access for supporting remote work, education, telemedicine, and civic participation and engagement, and the federal government has shown increased interest in supporting local initiatives to curb digital divides and limit state preemption.

Read the full article about municipal broadband by Mark Treskon at Urban Institute.