LibGuides: Legal Responses to Coronavirus (COVID-19): Home

Introduction

Many units of government at all levels (federal, state, and local) have issued, and continue to issue, legal responses to the coronavirus epidemic, and some states have laws pre-dating the epidemic but that have become more relevant, such as quarantine statutes and requirements for paid sick leave. This goal of this guide is to provide links to primary sources and high-quality summaries to these. At the federal agency level, this guide focuses on agencies related to the provision of healthcare. This guide highlights summaries of state laws across the states, and additionally provides information on California state and local responses. This guide also highlights a small number of current awareness sources for tracking legal and policy responses.

Federal: Administrative Agencies

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS): Coronavirus (COVID-19) Partner Toolkit
CMS Newsroom
CMS press releases with Medicare and Medicaid program updates.
FEMA: Use of Defense Production Act Authorities to Support the Pandemic Response
FEMA fact sheet of Mar. 20, 2020 on the use of The Defense Production Act (DPA) (50 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.) for COVID-19.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA): Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Medicaid.gov: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Guidance for state Medicaid agencies.
Medicaid: COVID-19: 1115 Waiver Demonstrations
Medicaid: Section 1135 [Disaster and Emergency Planning] Waiver Flexibilities
Medicaid: Emergency Preparedness and Response for Home and Community Based (HCBS) 1915(c) Waivers
Medicaid: State Plan [Disaster] Flexibilities
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA): Current Topics

In addition to the above, to see all federal agency issuances, the Federal Register is available and up to date online free at federalregister.gov Search by agency option is available through the "Advanced Document Search" under the Search tab, or as a filter after searching. The word "coronavirus" seems to pull up more results than the term "covid," but the website supports an OR search for both terms.

Federal: Public Laws

Pub. L. 116-139 Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act
This law responds to the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) outbreak by providing additional funding for small business loans, health care providers, and COVID-19 testing.
Public Law No: 116-127: Families First Coronavirus Response Act
This began as H.R. 6201. From CRS summary: This bill responds to the coronavirus outbreak by providing paid sick leave and free coronavirus testing, expanding food assistance and unemployment benefits, and requiring employers to provide additional protections for health care workers.
Public Law No: 116-123: Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020
From CRS summary: This bill provides $8.3 billion in emergency funding for federal agencies to respond to the coronavirus outbreak...The bill also allows HHS to temporarily waive certain Medicare restrictions and requirements regarding telehealth services during the coronavirus public health emergency.
H.R. 748: CARES Act
H.Res.935 - Establishing a Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis as a select investigative subcommittee of the Committee on Oversight and Reform
This resolution establishes the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis as a select investigative subcommittee of the Committee on Oversight and Reform to investigate, study, and report to the House of Representatives on its findings

Federal: Legislation in Progress

Below is a selection of federal legislation related to coronavirus. For a more complete search of bills, the Law Library of Congress has developed a broad search as a starting place. govinfo.gov also has a list of legislative documents, including a suggested search for remarks by Congress persons in the Congressional Record.

Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act
S. 3548: Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act
To provide emergency assistance and health care response for individuals, families, and businesses affected by the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.
H.R.6379 - Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act
H.Res.904 - Directing the Clerk of the House of Representatives to make corrections in the engrossment of H.R. 6201.
This resolution directs the Clerk of the House of Representatives to make corrections in the engrossment of H.R. 6201 (Families First Coronavirus Response Act), including modifications to provisions regarding requirements and tax credits for paid sick leave.
S.3415 - Paid Sick Days for Public Health Emergencies and Personal and Family Care Act
CRS Summary: This bill expands the availability of paid sick time by requiring employers with at least one employee to provide a minimum amount of accrued paid sick time per work week and additional paid sick time in the event of a public-health emergency such as the coronavirus outbreak.

Specifically, the bill requires employers to grant at least 1 hour of accrued paid sick time to each employee for every 30 hours worked, up to a minimum of 56 hours, or 7 days, of paid sick time per year. Accrued paid sick time may be used for, among other reasons, an absence from work that is taken (1) due to a medical condition or illness or for the diagnosis, care, or prevention thereof; (2) to care for a child, spouse, domestic partner, parent, or other close relative with a medical condition or illness, or for the diagnosis or prevention thereof; (3) during a public-health emergency when the employee's workplace has been closed or the employee has been exposed to a communicable disease and may pose a risk to others; or (4) to care for a child or close relative during such public-health emergency, if such relative has been exposed to a communicable disease or the child's school has been closed.

Further, employees are immediately entitled to up to 14 days of additional paid sick time if a public-health emergency is declared. This additional paid sick time may be used during the public-health emergency for the same purposes as accrued paid sick time.
H.R.6139 - COVID-19 Health Care Worker Protection Act of 2020
CRS Summary: This bill requires the Department of Labor to promulgate both an emergency temporary occupational safety or health standard and a permanent standard to protect certain employees from occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2 (known as coronavirus or COVID-19). These standards apply to health care sector employees and other employees identified as having an elevated risk for exposure.

Federal: Presidential Documents

Presidential documents are available in the Federal Register, which is available and up to date online free at federalregister.gov Users may filter for presidential documents in the "Advanced Document Search" under the Search tab, or as a filter after searching. The word "coronavirus" seems to pull up more results than the term "covid," but the website supports an OR search for both terms. govinfo.gov also has suggested searches for presidential documents in both the Federal Register and the Compilation of Presidential Documents

50 State Surveys

State Action on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
The National Conference of State Legislatures brings you up-to-date, real-time information about bills related to and responding to COVID-19 that have been introduced in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
You can search legislation starting in 2020 by state, topic, keyword, year, status or primary sponsor using the state legislation database below. You can further analyze this legislation using NCSL’s Power BI state legislation data visualization.
COVID-19 topics included in the database and the data visualization include, but are not limited to, budgeting and revenue, child welfare, commerce, criminal justice, education, elections, employment, finance, health access and coverage, housing and homelessness, labor and retirement, legislative operations, public health, workforce and more.
Federal and State Executive Responses to COVID-19
Library of Congress report on emergency rulemaking.
50-State Emergency Order Tracker: Roadmap to Restart
From Foley & Lardner LLP, "provides state-specific details on effective dates, degree of regulation, and analysis of essential or critical businesses, as well as detail on the impact of emergency orders across numerous industries."
50-State Real Estate Tracker: Mortgage, Rent and Utility Relief
From Foley & Lardner LLP, "designed to help companies navigate real estate and rent programs, including federal and state-by-state details and analysis regarding rent relief, mortgage relief, moratorium on evictions and foreclosures, and utility services relief."
Cheetah COVID-19 State & Federal Compare Smart Chart
Provided free from Wolters Kluwer: "View federal and state laws, regulations, executive orders, and more; organized topically across Banking & Finance, Labor & Employment/HR & Benefits, Health & Infectious Disease, Tax, Securities and others."
Consumer Law
Major Consumer Protections Announced in Response to COVID-19, from the National Consumer Law Center.
COVID-19 50-State Tracker
From Dentons. Extensive downloadable pdf document with links to state and local orders on a number of topics related to health, business, and restrictions on movement, schools, and courts; including business shut down orders, use of private property as temporary hospital, small business relief programs.
Elections
National Conference of State Legislatures monitoring of state legislative and executive actions relating to public health and elections.
Emergency Declarations
Information on and links to state and select tribal and local declarations of emergency starting at slide 19. From The Network for Public Health Law.
Paid Sick Leave
States that require paid sick leave, from National Conference of State Legislatures
Price Gouging State Statutes
From National Conference of State Legislatures
Prisons
COVID-19 Correctional Policies & Responses for persons who test positive. From Sharon Dolovich the UCLA Law Prison Law and Policy Program
Prison Visitation
Federal and state policies on normal and legal visitation during COVID, from the Marshall Project
Private Health Care Costs and Coverage
The Commonwealth Fund: What Are State Officials Doing to Make Private Health Insurance Work Better for Consumers During the Coronavirus Public Health Crisis?
To see government documents, click on the links for state names within the narrative text of the story discussing the chart.
Quarantine and Isolation State Statutes
From National Conference of State Legislatures
State Action on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Miscellaneous state bills, includes some bills related to Medicaid, protection of workers and renters, use of funds for specific purposes.
State Data and Policy Actions to Address Coronavirus
Kaiser Family Foundation. Survey of state policies on:
Emergency Declaration
Waiver of Cost Sharing for COVID-19 Testing
Waiver of Cost Sharing for COVID-19 Treatment
Free Cost Vaccine When Available
Waiver of Prior Authorization Requirements
Early Prescription Refills
ACA Marketplace Special Enrollment Period
Medicaid Section 1135 (emergency and disaster
response) Waivers
Paid Sick Leave
Telehealth
State telehealth and reimbursement policies as of late 2019, from The Center for Connected Health Policy. The downloadable pdf report at this link includes references to state laws or administrative guidance for the various policies.
Telehealth
Telehealth Coverage Policies in the Time of COVID-19 to date, as of Mar. 16, 2020. From Center for Connected Health Policy.
Utilties
Statements from state utilities regulators, including utility shut off moratoria. From the National Association of Regulatory Utilities Commissioners.

California: State

California Courts: Court Emergency Orders
Orders on the operations of courthouses across California. Orders appear on this page after they have been signed by the Chief Justice.
California Department of Public Health: COVID
See especially the list of links under the heading "What is the state doing to protect our health?"
California Department of Health Services: DHCS COVID-19 Response
Medi-Cal guidance.
Employment Development Department: Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19)
Discusses options for Disability Insurance, Paid Family Leave, and Unemployment Insurance claims related to COVID
Executive Order N-25-20
Includes suspension of one week waiting period for unemployment insurance.
Executive Order N-28-20
Permits, but does not require, localities to limit residential and commercial evictions.
Notes that "many" utilities and telecommunication companies have "voluntarily announced moratoriums on service disconnections and late fees for non-payment in response to COVID-19"
Executive Order N-33-20
Order of Mar. 19, 2020 ordering individuals to stay at home.
A.B. 1482
Statewide restrictions on rent increases and limitations on no-fault evictions. This law predates the coronavirus; it became effective Jan 1, 2020.

California: Los Angeles

City of Los Angeles COVID-19 Orders
Emergency Orders and Memorandum from Mayor Eric Garcetti pertaining to COVID-19. Includes Safer at Home order and eviction moratoria for residential and commercial tenants.
Los Angeles County Department of Public Health--Novel Coronavirus
Expand "Health Officer Orders" to see all orders, this is the page where new orders will most likely also be uploaded.
LA City Council: grocery, drug retail, and food delivery worker protection
LA City Council: temporary prohibition on certain residential and commercial evictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Cap on Third Party Food Delivery Service Charges
Nithya for the City: Current Rules Regarding Evictions and Rent

California: Selected Other Local Responses

Selected Other Jurisdictions

COVID-19 Local Action Tracker
"The National League of Cities and Bloomberg Philanthropies have teamed up to collect and share actions taken by local leaders in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic."
State & Local Responses to COVID-19
The goal of this doc is to help find and track legislation and orders issued in response to COVID-19. Anyone can add edits and make comments. Edits will appear in “Suggesting” mode until accepted by admins of the doc. Maintained by Rebecca Fordon, UCLA Law
COVID-19 50-State Tracker
From Dentons. Extensive downloadable pdf document with links which include local (city, county) orders for selected localities in each state on a number of topics related to health, business, and restrictions on movement, schools, and courts; including business shut down orders, use of private property as temporary hospital, small business relief programs.
Ohio Judicial Conference: COVID-19 Emergency Planning
Orders on the operations of courthouses across Ohio. Also links to Executive Order 2020-01D and Attorney General Opinion 2020-002.