Eighteen state legislatures tried to block local governments from boosting local labor standards in 2016 and 2017---most succeeded: State preemption laws, by type of local ordinance preempted and year preemption bill was passed by the legislature, January 2016–July 2017
| State | Minimum wage preemption | Paid leave preemption | Fair work scheduling preemption | Prevailing wage and project labor agreements preemption |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 2016 | 2016 | 2016 | |
| Arkansas | 2017 | 2017 | 2017 | |
| Florida | 2017 | |||
| Georgia | 2017 | |||
| Idaho | 2016 | |||
| Indiana | 2016 | |||
| Iowa | 2017 | 2017 | 2017 | 2017 |
| Kansas | 2016 | |||
| Kentucky | 2017* | 2017 | 2017 | |
| Maryland | 2017 (vetoed) | |||
| Missouri | 2017** | 2017 | ||
| New Mexico | 2017 (vetoed) | |||
| North Carolina | 2016 | 2016 | ||
| Ohio | 2016 | 2016 | 2016 | |
| South Carolina | 2017 | |||
| Tennessee | 2017 | |||
| Virginia | 2016 (vetoed) | 2016 (vetoed) | 2017 (vetoed) | |
| Wisconsin | 2017 |
* The Kentucky Supreme Court struck down Louisville and Lexington’s minimum wage ordinances in October 2016. The state legislature passed a minimum wage preemption law on January 9, 2017.
** In 2017, Missouri passed an amendment to a minimum wage preemption law that was originally passed in 2015; the 2015 law did not apply to an already-passed St. Louis minimum wage ordinance, but the 2017 amendment made the preemption retroactive to cover the St. Louis ordinance.
Notes: See extended notes for details about vetoed bills.
The governor of Maryland vetoed the paid leave preemption bill passed by the Maryland state legislature in 2017. The bill was not enacted into law. New Mexico’s governor vetoed the fair work scheduling preemption bill passed by the New Mexico state legislature in 2017. The bill was not enacted into law. The governor of Virginia vetoed all three preemption bills passed by the Virginia state legislature. However, because Virginia is a “Dillon’s Rule” state—which grants narrow governing authority to local governments—local minimum wage, paid leave, and prevailing wage/project labor agreements ordinances are likely automatically preempted under Virginia law.
Source: EPI analysis of preemption laws in all 50 states