Public Health Law Center

What it reported doing in 2024

While our mission remains constant, our programs and activities evolve over time, as we take on a broadening spectrum of issues and strive to center equity more consistently in all our work. Despite the challenges of the covid pandemic, and notwithstanding our transition to a fully remote working environment, we continued to deliver effective services without interruption. Among our program service accomplishments during the year:1. We continued as the nation's primary source of legal technical assistance to those addressing the leading cause of preventable death: the epidemic of commercial tobacco use. Among other things, we:-provided legal technical assistance and education to public health professionals and advocates in tribes, territories, states and municipalities around the country.- completed our sixth year of service as the designated legal policy experts supporting the state of California's commercial tobacco control program, earning top marks from the state's evaluators and overwhelmingly positive feedback from grantees. - completed our fourth year as the designated legal center supporting the New York state's commercial tobacco control program.- monitored and demystified the food and drug administration's regulatory regime for tobacco products, pressing for greater transparency and accountability.- answered hundreds of requests for technical assistance from every state of the nation on dozens of issues, ranging from implementation of smoke-free policies to the regulation of electronic cigarettes. The information, resources, and guidance we provided to community leaders supported the development of dozens of innovative new policies. - expanded our digital library of over 500 tobacco-related policy resources. These resources were distributed through our website, which was visited by over 500,000 users, and through a monthly electronic newsletter sent to more than 7,000 public health professionals across the country.- trained thousands of professionals through delivery of sixty webinars and other presentations.2. We continued to help community coalitions, health advocates and others pursue effective policies to support healthy eating and encourage physical activity. Our food-related work addressed dozens of policy options ranging from improved nutrition standards for government facilities, to development of farmers' markets, to taxation of sugary beverages. We also continued to support policies that encourage active lives, including legal issues involved in developing pedestrian-friendly roadways, laws affecting biking and walking, and policies related to community design and development. 3. We completed our fourth year of a new climate health policy program. Work included engaging with the u.s. Housing and urban development agency to around improving indoor air quality public housing to better protect health. This initiative included resident engagement to ensure that the policy priority reflected resident priorities for clean air in housing. In addition, we have a legal technical assistance program supporting municipalities working to advance policies that decarbonize buildings.4. We completed our first year of our newest program area with funding from the u.s. Centers for disease control and prevention to build public health law capacity in state, tribal, local and territorial health departments. The project also supports information sharing among jurisdictions through data use agreements.5. We continued to develop a growing body of work addressing the unique legal issues and health challenges of policymaking within sovereign tribal nations, where centuries of genocide and multi-generational trauma have created extreme chronic disease inequities, but where a focus on traditional ways and culture provides a foundation for creative approaches that reinforce community resilience. Our work ranges from cross-cutting training on the policymaking process, to policies that support traditional foodways, to policies that prot

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 78%; rating input score 78
• Program expense ratio: 77%; rating input score 77
• Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Missing
  • Board or committee approval: Missing
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Fail
  • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -1.4%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.23; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.62; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 4.2%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 1% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: -1.3% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings