State Smokefree Campus Legislation from CDC Tracking System

1995-2025 state-level legislative data on smokefree campus policies for private and public colleges and K-12 schools is provided by the CDC's STATE System. Data are reported quarterly and include enacted dates, effective dates, and detailed provision descriptions. The dataset tracks legislative changes across all U.S. states and territories.

Use Cases

• Analyze trends in `Enacted_Date` and `Effective_Date` to model the adoption rate of smokefree campus laws over time.
• Classify `ProvisionDesc` and `ProvisionValue` using text analysis to identify common exemptions or enforcement clauses in legislation.
• Map policy coverage by joining `LocationAbbr` and `GeoLocation` fields to visualize geographic clusters of smokefree campus laws.
• Compare `ProvisionGroupDesc` across states to benchmark legislative strength for private versus public institutions.
• Forecast future policy adoption using `Year` and `Quarter` as temporal features in a time-series model.

Strengths

• Temporal coverage spans 30 years from 1995 to 2025.
• Data is updated quarterly, providing regular snapshots of legislative changes.
• Includes granular geographic data via `LocationDesc` and `GeoLocation` fields for state and city-level analysis.

Limitations

• Sample size and total row count are unknown, limiting assessment of statistical power.
• Potential for missing historical records or inconsistent reporting across states and time periods.
• Data granularity may vary by state, as some records lack detailed `Comments` or `Citation` fields.

Provenance

Source

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) State Tobacco Activities Tracking and Evaluation (STATE) System.

Collection Method

State-level legislative data collected and reported on a quarterly basis.

Time Range

1995 to 2025.

Freshness

Updated quarterly, with last update recorded on 2025-04-01.

Geography

U.S. states and territories.