Influencing State Policy

Abstract

Increasingly, public health promotion is about more than influencing individual behavior. Rather, it is equally important to undertake efforts to impact social, environmental, and political factors. Having a clear understanding of the inner workings of the legislative process enhances one's ability to effectively influence policy. It is important to know who can use information from public health and related professions, what type of information to provide, when, and how. With that in mind, this article provides a conceptual framework for how to get state legislators to pay attention to information from the field and how to effectively navigate the legislative process. It provides examples of what health educators can do to influence public policy and highlights some of the issues that health educators might address.