Events
Policy Briefing
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Post-Chevron: Impacts on the Food, Agriculture, and Public Health Regulatory Landscape
September 12, 2024 @ 11:00 am – 12:15 pm PDT
Co-hosted by Chesapeake Bay Funders Network, Grantmakers In Health, and Health and Environmental Funders Network.
This webinar explored the impacts of one of the most significant legal developments in recent years: the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Chevron deference in Loper Bright v. Raimondo. This ruling has profound implications for the regulatory interpretation of major legislation such as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Farm Bill.
Chevron deference required judges to defer to agencies’ reasonable interpretations of ambiguous statutory language. A bedrock of administrative law stemming from the 1984 case Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., the principle was grounded in the idea that agencies have technical and subject-matter expertise that judges and politicians do not. This decision, combined with that in Corner Post, Inc. v. Bd. of Governors of the Fed. Reserve System, which expands the statute of limitations the Administrative Procedure Act grants for challenging agency regulations, redefines the relationship between agencies and the judiciary.
In this webinar, our panel of experts (see below) addressed food, agriculture, and public health regulations that could be affected, potential impacts on both the way Congress legislates and agencies conduct rulemaking, and how this ruling may change the way funders conduct policy advocacy.
This was a funder-only webinar.
Democracy Forward Resources:
Moderator:
Julia McCarthy, Senior Program Officer, New York Health Foundation
As Senior Program Officer, Julia McCarthy helps lead NYHealth’s Healthy Food, Healthy Lives priority area, the goal of which is to create a more equitable food system that connects all New Yorkers with the food they need to thrive.
Prior to joining NYHealth, Julia served as the deputy director of the Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy at Teachers College of Columbia University, where she oversaw operations, strategy, and project execution. Julia also held policy roles at the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Julia holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Georgetown University and a Juris Doctor degree from New York University School of Law, where she was a Root-Tilden-Kern scholar. She has served on the advisory committee on public policy for the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior and on the food retail advisory board for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Speakers:
Radhika Fox, former Assistant Administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Water
Radhika is a strategic and transformational leader with more than 25 years of experience in executive management, policy, strategy, and operational roles. Currently Principal at North Star Strategy, she has extensive expertise in the areas of sustainability, infrastructure investment, environmental management, water resources, the circular economy, equity, and environmental justice. Radhika is an expert facilitator and consensus-builder on complex, intersectional issues; a nationally recognized thought leader; and a sought-after public speaker.
Radhika most recently served as the Assistant Administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Water. Appointed by the President and confirmed with robust bipartisan support by the Senate, Radhika served as the chief advisor to the EPA Administrator and White House on domestic water resources and water infrastructure matters. In this role, Radhika oversaw a $4.8 billion annual operating budget and 1,900 staff across the nation. She led the development of the water pillar of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for the agency—successfully securing a $50 billion appropriation, the single largest federal investment in water. Radhika also led the water policy and regulatory agenda for the EPA, and directed all initiatives focused on climate change, sustainability, equity, and environmental justice for the Office of Water.
Prior to joining EPA, Radhika served as the Chief Executive Officer for the US Water Alliance, the only national, non-partisan network that unites diverse stakeholders on common-ground solutions to our nation’s pressing environmental, water, and climate challenges. As the CEO, she transformed the organization—driving a five-fold increase in revenue and tripling membership. Radhika’s prior roles included senior management positions at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and PolicyLink.
Radhika has also served on numerous boards, including Jobs to Move America, PolicyLink, and the Water Solutions Network. Radhika graduated with a B.A. from Columbia University. She earned her M.A. in City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley where she received a Community Development Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Anne Knapke, former Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary Vilsack at the United States Department of Agriculture
Anne recently departed the Biden-Harris Administration as the Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary Vilsack at the United States Department of Agriculture. For the first year of the Administration, Anne served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations, standing up the office and working on Senate confirmation of nominees. She was previously Senior Program Officer at the Gates Foundation focusing on nutrition and agricultural development policy. Prior to working at the Gates Foundation, Anne served as Legislative Director for Senator Amy Klobuchar. Anne holds a bachelor’s degree from the Ohio State University and master’s degrees in public policy and social service administration from the University of Chicago, and lives in Brookland with her husband and young son.
Skye Perryman, President and CEO, Democracy Forward
Skye is President and CEO of Democracy Forward, a nonpartisan, national legal organization that promotes democracy and progress through litigation, regulatory engagement, policy education, and research. Perryman took the helm at Democracy Forward a few months after January 6, 2021, in the midst of rising extremism in communities and courts across the country. She has built a visionary team of legal, policy, and communications experts to confront anti-democratic extremism head-on while also using the law to advance progress and a bold vision for the future.
A highly regarded litigator and strategist, Perryman previously served as General Counsel of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the nation’s leading association of physicians dedicated to the health of women. Earlier in her career, Perryman served in litigation roles at WilmerHale and Covington & Burling where she gained the confidence of a number of private sector and public interest clients for her litigation skills, tenacity, and winning results. She also served as a founding member of Democracy Forward in the wake of the 2016 election where she developed high profile cases challenging the Trump Administration’s unlawful activities.
In 2024, Perryman was named one of the Most Influential People Shaping Policy by Washingtonian magazine, which noted her role as a resource for both moderates and progressives. Perryman is a frequent guest lecturer and keynote speaker to national and international audiences on matters at the intersection of law and policy. Her legal work has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court as well as state supreme courts and her work and perspective are frequently covered by major media outlets such as The New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, The Washington Post, Time, Forbes Women, Insider, Ms. Magazine, Teen Vogue, among many others.
Perryman grew up in Waco, Texas and is a proud product of K-12 public education. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Philosophy magna cum laude from Baylor University where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and a Juris Doctor with honors from the Georgetown University Law Center where she served as an Editor for the American Criminal Law Review and was an Editor in Chief for the ACLR’s Annual Survey on White Collar Crime. Skye serves on the boards of the Atlas Performing Arts Center, the Interfaith Alliance, the Baylor Line Foundation, and the Texas Observer.
Rebecca Riley, Managing Director for Food & Agriculture, NRDC
Rebecca Riley is the managing director for Food & Agriculture at NRDC. As the largest use of land globally, agriculture has an outsized impact on climate change, biodiversity, and human health, making it a critical part of NRDC’s work. The Food & Agriculture sector uses litigation, legislation, policy, and partnerships to tackle threats like degraded soil health, pesticide overuse, pollinator decline, and food waste.
Previously, Riley established and directed NRDC’s work on pollinators and served as the legal director of NRDC’s Nature department, leveraging her long-standing expertise working on wildlife and endangered species issues, particularly around the Endangered Species Act. Before joining NRDC, Riley was a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice in the Environment and Natural Resources Division and clerked for a federal judge on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Riley grew up in a Central Illinois farming community and is a graduate of the University of Toledo’s College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Harvard Law School. She is based in Chicago.
