Tracking Tobacco Legislation: SmokeLess States Legislative Coding and Evaluation, Overview, Methods, and Process

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) funded SmokeLess States National Tobacco Control Policy Initiative, which began in 1993, provided funding for state-level coalitions to engage in media and policy advocacy to strengthen tobacco control legislation and regulation. The initiative's ultimate goal was to reduce the use of tobacco across states. Tracking the Media and Policy Impacts of State-Level Tobacco Control: SmokeLess States Evaluation Project (SLS), was funded in 2001 by RWJF to assess the impact of the SLS coalitions on media coverage of tobacco issues, tobacco control policy development and adoption, and overall strength of state tobacco control efforts.

The evaluation focused on several upstream outcomes and their interrelationships: news coverage of tobacco-related issues and the effect of media on policy; legislative activity on tobacco-related issues and the effect of policy advocacy efforts on legislative activity; and the strength of statewide tobacco control infrastructure. This document provides an overview of the methods and process used in the legislative components of the SLS Project.