American Legislative Exchange Council
[28] ALEC senior director of membership and development Chaz Cirame said, "The hook about some conspiracy or some secret organization is a lot better story than one about bringing state legislators together to talk about best practices around the country."[6] In 2012, ALEC was the subject of an Occupy movement protest, an Internal Revenue Service complaint by Common Cause, and calls for attorney general investigations in several states.[39] ALEC responded by releasing a statement describing efforts by its critics as a "campaign launched by a coalition of extreme liberal activists committed to silencing anyone who disagrees with their agenda".[54] ALEC is a member of the advisory board of Project 2025,[55] a collection of conservative and right-wing policy proposals from the Heritage Foundation to reshape the United States federal government and consolidate executive power should the Republican nominee win the 2024 presidential election.[14][15] The ALEC Public Safety and Elections Task Force, which promoted stand your ground gun laws and voter identification requirements, was disbanded in April 2012.The board is composed of Arthur Laffer, an economist who served on Ronald Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board; Victor Schwartz, chair of Public Policy at Shook, Hardy & Bacon;[62] Richard Vedder, economics professor emeritus at Ohio University and adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute; and Rob Natelson, a constitutional scholar.It's to clear the way for lower taxes, less regulation, a lot of protection against lawsuits, [and] ALEC is very, very active in [the] opening up of areas via privatization for corporations to make more money, particularly in places you might not usually expect like public education."[72] A Brookings Institution study of state legislation introduced in 2011–2012 found that ALEC model bills that became law were linked most often to controversial social and economic issues."[73] According to research by Columbia University political scientist Alex Hertel-Fernandez, ALEC model legislation during the late 1970s focused primarily on social issues, such as abortion, drugs, gun laws, religious freedom and anti-busing.[4] In the wake of the killing of Trayvon Martin in 2012, ALEC's support for Stand Your Ground laws ultimately led to the departure of high-profile corporate members such as Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Bank of America, and General Motors.[77] Prior to 2012, legislation based on ALEC model bills was introduced in many states to mandate or strengthen requirements that voters produce state-issued photographic identification.[83] Many ag-gag bills are also similar to ALEC's model "Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act", which would make it against the law to film, videotape, or take photographs on livestock farms in order to "defame the facility or its owner".[86] Critics argue that by funding and participating in ALEC's Criminal Justice Task Force, private prison companies directly influence legislation for tougher, longer sentences."[89] Economist Paul Krugman wrote in 2012 that ALEC had "a special interest in privatization—that is, on turning the provision of public services, from schools to prisons, over to for-profit corporations," and as such played a significant role in the "penal–industrial complex"."[90] By 2013, ALEC disbanded the task force that favored harsh sentencing and supported reducing prison overcrowding and lowering the costs associated with the criminal justice system.[14] In 2011, ALEC adopted model legislation having to do with public "right to know" laws regarding what fluids are used in hydraulic fracturing (also known as "fracking") that was promoted as a victory for the right of consumers to know about potential drinking water contaminants, in spite of the fact that the bill contained "loopholes that would allow energy companies to withhold the names of certain fluid contents, for reasons including that they have been deemed trade secrets".[10] ALEC has promoted a model bill that called plans in 2011 by the federal Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, a "train wreck" that would harm the economy, and it has supported efforts by various states to withdraw from regional climate change compacts.[102] In February 2014, Senate Bill 304 in Kansas was introduced, "prohibiting cities and counties from building public broadband networks and providing internet service to businesses and citizens".[104] ALEC opposes the individual health insurance mandate enacted by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (commonly known as the "ACA" or "Obamacare").ALEC filed an amicus brief in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, urging the Supreme Court to strike down the individual mandate of the ACA.Sean Riley, the head of the ALEC Health and Human Services task force, said the aim of the proposed legislation was to protect businesses from the ACA's employer mandate.[109] Governor Sam Brownback, who promoted and signed the legislation, was advised by the supply-side economist and ALEC board member, Arthur Laffer, who said at the time that the cuts would pay for themselves and lead to increased growth.[112] In July 2012, The Guardian reported that ALEC had taken action to oppose plain cigarette packaging laws outside the United States, including the UK and Australia.[13] One exception to this pattern came in November 2011, when former Florida State Representative Rachel Burgin introduced legislation to call on the federal government to reduce its corporate tax rate.[73] On October 1, 2012, Common Cause, a liberal political advocacy group, along with the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), filed a lawsuit under a Wisconsin open records law alleging five Republican lawmakers did not disclose whether they had used personal e-mail accounts for correspondence with ALEC.[125] According to CMD, the legislators settled the suit in late October 2012, allowing their personal e-mails to be searched for such contacts and paying $2,500 in court costs as part of the settlement."[15] Chris Taylor, a Democratic Wisconsin state assemblyman who attended an ALEC conference in 2013, said, "In my observation, it was the corporations and the right-wing think tanks driving the agendas.[14] Vance Wilkins, a former Republican speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates and ALEC member, said in 2002, "Just because business writes a bill doesn't make it bad."[14] In April 2012, Common Cause filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service objecting to ALEC's tax status as a nonprofit organization and alleged that lobbying accounted for more than 60% of its expenditures.[15] According to a December 2013 article in The Guardian, ALEC faced a funding shortfall after "losing more than a third of its projected income" when some 400 state legislators left its membership, along with more than 60 corporate donors.
Nonprofit organization501(c)(3)Crystal CityArlington County, VirginiaDaniel Perezconservativestate legislatorsprivate sectormodel legislationmodel billsillegal immigrationenvironmental regulationsvoter identification ruleslabor unionsgun controlThe New York TimesBloomberg BusinessweekInsidera political commentatorconservative constitutional convention movementconstitutionChicagoIllinois state houseEnvironmental Protection Agencyprice controlsBarry Goldwater1964 presidential electionAmerican Conservative UnionBill MoyersGreenpeacePaul WeyrichHeritage FoundationHenry HydeRonald ReaganBob KastenTommy ThompsonScott WalkerJohn EnglerTerry BranstadMitch DanielsJohn BoehnerJohn KasichJack KempJesse HelmsJames L. BuckleyPhil CraneEric Cantordisinvestment from South AfricanegotiationsapartheidhomosexualitypedophiliaDolores MertzVerizon CommunicationsThe NationCenter for Media and DemocracyKoch familyvoter ID lawsColor of ChangeGene WhisnantOccupy movementInternal Revenue ServiceCommon Causekilling of Trayvon Martin"Stand-your-ground" gun lawsCoca-ColaWendy'sKraft FoodsMcDonald'sAmazon.comGeneral ElectricProcter & GambleWalmartBill & Melinda Gates FoundationBlue Cross and Blue ShieldVisa Inc.Newt GingrichGoogleMicrosoftFacebookYahoo!Eric Schmidtrecent global climate changeOccidental PetroleumNorthrop GrummanT-MobileNational Portrait GalleryProject 2025right-wingUnited States federal governmentexecutive powerRepublican2024 presidential electionList of members of the American Legislative Exchange CouncilRepublican Partyveto powerstand your ground gun lawsvoter identification requirementsNational Center for Public Policy ResearchExxonMobilPfizerState Farm InsuranceKoch IndustriesArthur LafferEconomic Policy Advisory BoardShook, Hardy & BaconRichard VedderOhio UniversityAmerican Enterprise InstituteState Policy NetworklibertarianThe GuardianAtlas NetworkabortionJohn NicholsBrookings InstitutionStand-your-ground laws2008 presidential electionSupport Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Actsanctuary citiescivil disobedienceanimal rightsterrorismAnimal Enterprise Terrorism ActJames Inhofeag-gag