The Board of Supervisors amended the municipal code in order to issue municipal identification cards to city residents - regardless of whether they are in the country legally. Supervisor Tom Ammiano, who authored the ID card legislation, said the program is a smart public safety measure because it would make residents living on the social margins of San Francisco more likely to seek the help of police and could give them more access to banking services.

Mandates food standards for all schools in the state of California. Food sold in all K-12 schools must have limited fat, calories and sugar.

The document details guidelines that the Maryland Department of Health (DHMH) will follow to ensure that LEP applicants and recipients will be provided equal access to services. The document includes definitions, language assistance procedures, general policy statements and responsibilities.http://www.dhmh.state.md.us/policies/doc/02.06.07-sof.DOC.

The law proposes to bar companies and individuals that violate major labor and discrimination laws from operating restaurants in the city. Restaurants will be required to disclose information about their compliance with relevant laws.

Students in Colorado lobbied their state legislature in support of HB 1124, a bill that would have made undocumented students eligible for in-state tuition rates at Colorado universities.

Model ordinance for local groups interested in passing smoke free legislation in their communities. Available online at: http://www.no-smoke.org/document.php?id=332.

Model ordinance for local groups interested in passing smoke free legislation in their communities. Available online at: http://no-smoke.org/pdf/modelordinance.pdf.

Introduced to the SF Board of Supervisors in January 2006, but currently pending committee vote. Strengthens the City's Health Code regulations and enforcement powers regarding environmental health conditions in rental housing. Includes a new provision prohibiting smoking in common areas of multiple unit buildings.

Enacted through a local initiative campaign in November 2003 by a 60% YES vote. Created a local minimum wage of $8.50 per hour, indexed to inflation, for all workers in San Francisco. 2-year phase in period for small businesses and non-profit organizations. Currently, the minimum wage for all workers in San Francisco (only exceptions are through some labor agreements) is $8.82 per hour. As a result of the Minimum Wage Ordinance, an estimated 54,000 low-wage workers received a combined annual increase in income of $100 million.

Introduced to the SF Board of Supervisors in March 2006, but currently pending committee vote. Strengthens the City's Minimum Wage Ordinance to impose an annual fee upon employers to defray the City's costs of implementing and enforcing the Minimum Wage Ordinance to expand the powers and duties of the Office of Labor Standard Enforcement to implement and enforce the Minimum Wage Ordinance.

Requires the New York City Human Resources Adminstration to provide equal access to Food Stamps, Medicaid and public assistance to all limited English proficient (LEP) New Yorkers. LEP New Yorkers have the right to receive free language assistance services and varying departments must document the language access needs of clients and agency capability.

The ordinance increased tobacco permit fees from $50 to $100. Additionally, the ordinance addresses repeated violators of youth sales by enabling the Boston Public Health Commission to revoke licenses of repeated merchants after three strikes. The three strikes rule also requires community input before the reissuing of a license to merchants who have lost their permits due to underage sales. As a result, Boston increased its budget for tobacco control directly from the increase in permit fees to use on enforcement and community education issues. Most importantly, sales rates to youth dropped from the average non-compliance rate of 15% to 6%.

Smoking and tobacco would be prohibited in all SRPMIC owned and leased buildings located in the SRPMIC Tribal Complex. Smoking and tobacco use is also prohibited within 25 feet of any public entrance and/or walkway to all SRPMIC Tribal Complex buildings and is also prohibited in any SRPMIC owned vehicle. The Community Council recognizes that smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in the United States and Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) or secondhand smoke contains toxic substances that cause cancer, asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia and lung disease. There is also further recognition that Native Americans are at great risk of suffering from tobacco-related death and disease because they are more likely than any other racial/ethnic subgroup to be current smokers.

The School Nutrition Association has compiled many policies on wellness and nutrition passed by school boards across the United States. They intend to collect all the policies that will be passed in most locales by July, 2006. The strongest policies include bans of soda, fast food, and advertising to youth. See one of the model policies passed by the SF Unified School District.

Center for Policy Alternatives annually surveys and collects model policies across the nation, mostly those passed at the state level. From Budgets to Reproductive Rights, CFPA has catalogued over 100 policies in their collection and in some case has modified bills to present new improved models.To obtain a print copy of this publication contact Center for Policy Alternatives.

This legislation strengthens the existing Health Code requirement that each food service establishment must be in “compliance with . . . applicable federal, state and city laws, rules and regulations,” by mandating additional requirements designed to prevent entities and principals who repeatedly violate employment, discrimination and workplace safety laws from operating food service establishments. This legislation will help government and community groups play an active role in promoting a safer and healthier industry by requiring that persons applying for a license or a renewal of a license to operate food service establishments disclose past violations of employment laws.

Oregon passed a law enabling voting by mail. This policy gives local communities greater access to participation in voting.

"These charts include laws that have legislative language that makes clear that transgender people are covered in the anti-discrimination law of the state, county or city. These charts do not include jurisdictions with favorable court or administrative rulings that have determined that “sex” or “disability” discrimination laws protect transgender people. This first chart includes jurisdictions that protect people from discrimination by private and public entities. The second chart includes jurisdictions that only protect the employees of that jurisdiction." (from document)

The purpose of this set of tables is to provide a quick reference of the features of state civil rights laws covering sexual orientation and/or gender identity and expression. Seventeen states plus the District of Columbia have passed laws that provide some form of civil rights protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Of these, only Minnesota, New Mexico, Rhode Island, California, Illinois, Maine, Washington, and the District of Columbia provide comprehensive civil rights protection for transgender individuals; California, Maine, Minnesota, Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia prohibit discrimination in schools based on transgender status. The state’s human rights commission, attorney general, or lower courts in Connecticut, Hawai’i, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont have interpreted existing anti-discrimination laws to prohibit discrimination against transgender people." (from p.1)

Snapshots of Health Systems provides a brief overview of the policies of 16 countries and their progressive health systems.