Table 2.

Characteristics of Laws Passed, By State Government Consolidation

	Republican		Democratic		Divided
Variable	Mean/%	N	Mean/%	N	Mean/%	N
Explicitly targets obesity	0.256	20	0.283	28	0.271	23
Public health framework	0.769	60	0.687	68	0.753	64
Relevance to obesity
Addresses obesity	0.051	4	0.051	5	0.047	4
Addresses risk factor	0.718	56	0.717	71	0.706	60
Address obesity and risk factor	0.231	18	0.232	23	0.247	21
Topics addressed
Core public health framework
Community: Improving nutrition	0.308	24	0.434	43	0.447	38
Community: Promoting physical activity	0.333	26	0.232	23	0.212	18
Community: Addressing obesity	0.077	6	0.04	4	0.059	5
Schools: Improving nutrition	0.154	12	0.182	18	0.306	26
Schools: Promoting physical activity	0.192	15	0.202	20	0.129	11
Schools: Addressing obesity	0.051	4	0.02	2	0.047	4
Workplace: Improving nutrition	0	0	0.03	3	0	0
Workplace: Promoting physical activity	0.013	1	0.04	4	0.024	2
Workplace: Addressing obesity	0	0	0	0	0	0
Health insurance plan changes	0	0	0.02	2	0.012	1
Business interest framework
Legal	0.039	3	0	0	0	0
Preemption: Nutrition-related	0.013	1	0.02	2	0.012	1
Preemption: Physical activity related	0	0	0	0	0.012	1
Other/Neutral framework
Community: Soda or SSB tax	0	0	0	0	0.012	1
Schools: Support for a school wellness program/policy	0.013	1	0.03	3	0.012	1
Gov't task force, council, resolution, or study	0.154	12	0.182	18	0.153	13
Requesting state gov't to support/amend food program	0	0	0.01	1	0.012	1
Requesting federal gov't to support/amend food program	0.013	1	0.01	1	0.024	2
Core public health topics addressed	0.923	72	0.939	93	0.988	84
Business interest topics addressed	0.051	4	0.02	2	0.024	2
Number of topics addressed per policy	1.359		1.455		1.471
Number of laws	78		99		85
Number of state-year observations (i.e., years in control)	70		65		85