How Do Health Departments Implement & Enforce the Law? Overview of Administrative Law, Part 3 — for Facilitators

This collection of tools supports anyone interested in teaching public health practitioners about administrative law and its effects on public health. These tools are part of the Public Health Law Academy, which provides a deeper understanding of the use of law and policy to improve population health outcomes.

Start with our Part 3 of our training on administrative law: How Do Health Departments Implement & Enforce the Law? Then download and tailor the following resources for your specific audience:

• Facilitator's Checklist
• Facilitator's Guide, which provides instructions on how to customize this training for your audience
• Facilitator's Script, which can be modified for your audience and speakers
• Slide Presentation, which can be adapted to your unique training content

About This Training

The final installment of our three-part training series on administrative law explains best practices for health departments in issuing permits and licenses, conducting investigations and inspections, and enforcing public health laws. This free training also discusses how health departments can engage community members and promote health equity while carrying out these regulatory activities.

The course is designed to benefit anyone who works in or with health departments. Before you take this training, we encourage you to watch Parts 1 and 2 of the series, which lay the groundwork for the discussion in this course. Part 1 answers the question “What legal powers do health departments have?” Part 2 answers the question “How do health departments create regulations, policies, and guidance documents?”

Part 3 continues the discussion of how administrative law plays out in actual practice in state and local health departments, focusing on implementation and enforcement.

Learning Objectives

Instructors can tailor these training materials to achieve the following learning objectives:

• Describe the purpose and function of permits and licenses and the administrative law principles that guide when and how health departments can issue them;
• Identify and implement strategies to make licensing more equitable;
• Explain key legal and equity considerations for health departments when conducting investigations and inspections;
• Explain how health departments enforce public health laws by issuing citations and participating in administrative hearings; and
• Define equitable enforcement and explain how it can be operationalized in health departments’ day-to-day work.