A Practice Note addressing the preemption provision of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), including how ERISA preemption applies to numerous state laws that govern employee benefit plans (or that would otherwise govern the plans, but for preemption). Companion resources address the framework of ERISA's preemption rule and analyze how the courts have applied ERISA's preemption provisions to additional state laws not addressed in this resource.