Version 4

This dataset was developed to study trends in the adoption of state public health laws during 1980-2010. Specifically, the dataset covers annual trends in seatbelt laws, speed limits for passenger vehicles on rural interstates, minimum legal drinking ages, drunk driving laws, laws prohibiting the purchase of alcohol on Sundays, regulations for registering purchased kegs and/or prohibitions against selling kegs, beer taxes and total alcohol tax revenues, motorcycle and bicycle helmet laws, cigarette taxes, cigarette advertising bans, bans on workplace smoking, bans on smoking in restaurants and bars, and tobacco taxes (total revenue). The dataset contains information about these laws for each year between 1980 and 2010, inclusive. In addition, it contains variables that describe the social, economic, demographic, health care, political, and crime chacteristics of the states in each of these years.