Successful State Lobbying Campaigns: 4 Examples of Strategies to Shape Policy Outcomes

Cannabis legalization

Highlighting the role of states in shaping policy nationwide, California was the first state to pass legislation to legalize medical cannabis in 1996. More than a decade later, in 2012, Washington and Colorado became the first states to legalize cannabis for recreational use. These state laws broke with decades of escalating federal cannabis restrictions that culminated in its classification in 1970 as a Schedule I substance with no legitimate medical use.

By 2016, most states had followed suit and passed their own laws to legalize medical cannabis; roughly half now also permit its recreational use. Federal standards are shifting to respond to these state-level policy changes. In places where it is now legal, federal law is typically not enforced against the possession, cultivation, or intrastate distribution of cannabis. And since 2014, the U.S. Department of Justice has been prohibited from allocating funds in a way that would obstruct the implementation of state medical cannabis laws.

What began nearly 30 years ago in California underscores a broader pattern in state lobbying efforts: Advocates strategically adopted an incremental approach to policy changes, initially focusing on more narrowly legalizing cannabis for medical use before expanding to recreational use.

State lobbyists and advocates for cannabis legalization focused their campaign on reframing outdated views of cannabis use by educating policymakers on new research into its medicinal benefits, social justice concerns over cannabis-related incarcerations, and positive socioeconomic outcomes observed in early-adopter states.

Data privacy

In the absence of a comprehensive U.S. federal data privacy law, states have been filling the regulatory void. In today’s era of expanding digital reach, states are becoming more attuned to consumer concerns about personal privacy and data protection. The enactment of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in 2018 is a prominent example of successful advocacy for state policies in areas of federal inaction.

CCPA’s impact is not limited to California – as the nation’s first comprehensive consumer privacy law, it served as a model for other states to adopt their own privacy measures to address the specific privacy concerns of their residents. Among these, the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act gives consumers the right to access and request that businesses delete their personal data, and the Colorado Privacy Act allows state residents to opt out of targeted advertising, personal data sales, and certain forms of online profiling.

These different state privacy law outcomes showcase the effectiveness of a decentralized approach to state lobbying that tailors policy to address specific consumer concerns.

Minimum wage

Recent labor and employment legislative initiatives in states such as California and New York showcase the role of state advocacy campaigns to enact state-level policies that build on federal minimum standards.

While the federal Fair Labor Standards Act establishes a national minimum wage, states retain the authority to enact their own wage laws. Notably, when states institute minimum wages and protections that surpass federal baselines, state regulations take precedence. To date, some 30 states, as well as Washington, D.C., have enacted minimum wages that are higher than the federal minimum wage.

State-level advocacy has not only raised the minimum wage in these states, but has also expanded certain protections to workers that aren’t covered by federal wage and labor laws, including:

• Paid leave
• Pay transparency
• Portable benefits for gig workers

These state lobbying campaigns successfully leveraged grassroots strategies – rallying unions and advocacy groups in a coordinated effort to engage state legislators, emphasizing the socioeconomic impact of present labor and employment laws.