Federal Government Affairs

ASTHO offers personalized legislative and advocacy expertise to our members. Additionally, ASTHO helps prepare them to provide testimony before Congress or participate in congressional briefings.

We also provide congressional leaders and their staff with timely and relevant information regarding public health activities in their respective jurisdictions to guide their consideration of public health related policies.

Federal Legislative Agenda

Each year, ASTHO’s Board of Directors reviews and approves our federal legislative agenda to ensure it represents the most critical needs of state and territorial public health officials at the federal level. It is prioritized into two tiers:

Tier one represents priority areas where ASTHO will play a lead role in advocacy.
Tier two includes issues that ASTHO will actively collaborate with key partners to support.

Governmental Public Health Appropriations Book

The government affairs team produces a variety of resources annually to support our advocacy efforts. Our governmental public health appropriations book is a flagship product that incudes expert analysis from ASTHO and affiliate staff. The appropriations book also represents a wide array of core public health programs and the recommendations by these organizations for annual appropriations to CDC, HRSA, and SAMHSA so they receive necessary resources to execute their missions.

Download the Book (PDF)

Legislative Alerts

The government affairs team regularly sends legislative alerts to members, affiliates, and public health advocates with the most up-to-date information on emerging public health policies from Congress and the administration. Legislative alerts encourage members to actively engage with their members of Congress to advocate for policies that improve the public’s health.

View the Alerts

Testimony Before Congress

State and territorial health officials are leading experts in public health practice and speak to Congress frequently about the impact of federal policy on their jurisdiction. State and territorial health officials testified on COVID-19, the opioid crisis, vaping, and funding for public health.

View the Testimony