ALEC Exposed

Through ALEC, Global Corporations Are Scheming to Rewrite YOUR Rights and Boost THEIR Revenue

Through the corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council, global corporations and state politicians vote behind closed doors to try to rewrite state laws that govern your rights. These so-called "model bills" reach into almost every area of American life and often directly benefit huge corporations. In ALEC's own words, corporations have "a VOICE and a VOTE" on specific changes to the law that are then proposed in your state. DO YOU? Numerous resources to help us expose ALEC are provided below. We have also created links to detailed discussions of key issues, which are available on the left.

Who Is Behind ALEC?
What Is ALEC? Who Funds ALEC? ALEC Corporations Corporations That Have Cut Ties to ALEC ALEC Politicians (all states) Is Your Legislator Part of ALEC? Legislators Who Have Cut Ties to ALEC ALEC Non-Profits and Think Tanks ALEC State Chairs ALEC "Scholars" ALEC Boards & Task Forces ALEC's Koch Connection Common Cause Trove of ALEC Task Force Docs

Essential ALEC Resources

Report on ALEC "Scholarships" (UPDATED!) CMD Fact Sheets on Key Topics ALEC Press by Date and State CMD's PRWatch Articles on ALEC CMD's SourceWatch Resources on ALEC The Nation Special Edition on ALEC Common Cause Trove of ALEC Task Force Docs DBA Press ALEC Archive Voter's Legislative Transparency Project (VLTP) ProPublica Database of ALEC Corporations' Election Spending Abolish ALEC (Daily Kos blog)

Hot Topics
Lobbying and Ethics Complaints ALEC & NCSL Comparison Democracy & Voting Privatizing Education Repealing Labor Rights Health & Tobacco Limiting Environmental Protections Changing Civil & Criminal Law Immigration Corporate Prisons PRWatch Articles on ALEC SourceWatch Resources on ALEC

ALEC's "Model Bills"

Worker and Consumer Rights bills here. Analysis here. Tort Reform and Injured Americans bills here. Analysis here. Privatizing Schools and Higher Education bills here. Analysis here. Health, Big Pharma, and Social Welfare bills here. Analysis here. Environment, Energy, and Agriculture bills here. Analysis here. Democracy, Voting, and Federal Relations bills here. Analysis here. Tax & Budget bills here. Analysis here. Guns, Prisons, Crime and Immigration bills here. Analysis here.

State Reports

Arizona (PFAW/CC) (supplemental) (CMD/PFAW/CC/Progress Now) NEW 2013 (CMD/PFAW/CC/Progress Now/AWF) Florida (Progress Florida/ PFAW/CMD/Florida Watch Action/CC) Georgia (NEW!) (Better Georgia) Iowa (Progress Iowa/ CMD/PFAW/CC/Progress Now) Maine (Maine's Majority Education Fund) Michigan (Progress Michigan/ Michigan Citizen Action/CMD/CC/PFAW) Minnesota (Common Cause) Missouri (Progress Missouri) Nebraska (NEW!) (Bold Nebraska) Nevada (Progress Now Nevada) New Hampshire (Granite State Progress) (supplemental on "Right to Work for Less") New Jersey (PFAW/CMD/CC/Progress Now) Ohio (CMD/Progress Ohio/PFAW/CC) Pennsylvania (Keystone Progress) and PA Education Report (CMD) Texas (Progress TX/CMD) Utah (PFAW/CC/Alliance for a Better Utah/CMD) Virginia (Progress VA) Wisconsin (Center for Media and Democracy) State Bill Comparisons

ALEC News

Comcast Is Latest Telecommunications Company to Drop ALEC Comcast, one of the remaining telecommunication members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), has left the corporate bill mill. Read the rest of this item here. ALEC Teams up with Anti-LGBT Alliance Defending Freedom to Promote So-Called “Campus Free Speech” Bills ALEC is actively working with Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian Right litigation nonprofit that pursues an anti-LGBT agenda, to push so-called “Campus Free Speech” bills in the states. Read the rest of this item here. ALEC’s Washington State Chair Discussed Violence, Surveillance Against Constituents Washington State Rep. Matt Shea (R-Spokane) has found himself back in the spotlight again, this time for messages sent and received through the Signal app discussing acts of violence against and surveillance of left-wing activists. Read the rest of this item here. Trump Appoints Stephen Moore, ALEC’s Favorite Economist, to Fed Stephen Moore, Trump’s recent appointment to the Federal Reserve Board, has served as the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) leading voice for austerity and anti-labor policies for over a decade. Read the rest of this item here. CMD Continues to Throw Spotlight on Legislators Heralded by Secret Group ALEC seems to have stopped recognizing its rising stars with its “Legislator of the Week” award, switching instead to a monthly award. Read the rest of this item here. State Bills to Criminalize Peaceful Protest of Oil & Gas “Critical Infrastructure” Lawmakers in several states are introducing bills that would increase criminal penalties for people who trespass “critical infrastructure” facilities, such as oil and gas pipelines, power plants, and petrochemical refineries. Read the rest of this item here.

More ALEC News

ALEC Corporations Are Leaders in Workplace Discrimination and Harassment Since 2000, corporate members of ALEC piled up almost $150 million in fines, penalties, and court settlements in cases involving racial and age discrimination and harassment. Read the rest of this item here. Louisiana Senator Sharon Hewitt, ALEC’s Legislator of the Year, Voted “No” on Equal Pay for Equal Work As “Legislator of the Year,” ALEC chose a woman who made opposition to pay equity one of her signature issues, in the state where women have the most to gain from equal pay protections. Read the rest of this item here. ALEC’s New Union-Busting Toolkit Illustrates the Goal Is to Bankrupt Unions Not Protect Workers ALEC’s post-Janus toolkit inadvertently sheds light on the real aims of the group’s union-busting activities. Read the rest of this item here. Broad Coalition Calls on Corporations to Drop Funding for ALEC Over Horowitz Speeches Washington State Rep. Matt Shea keeps his leadership post in ALEC despite circulating a white nationalist manifesto calling for a violent Christian holy war. Read the rest of this item here.

Join the Conversation!

Breaking News
Comcast leaves conservative ‘think tank’ behind voter ID, stand-your-ground laws The Spokesman-Review “Freedom Gas” Will Be Used to Justify Oppression at Home and Abroad Truthout Utilities try to exploit local media to push bogus claims about rooftop solar Our Post-Carbon Future Depends on Electric Vehicles—Our Congress Controls Their Economic Lifeline Common Dreams Capitalism Versus Democracy Counterpunch Neal Milner: Hawaii's Scholars Ought To Be Making Sense Of Its Politics Honolulu Civil Beat Former State Senator Linda Collins' Family Shares Their Anguish a Week After She Was Shot and Killed People.com Conservatives Urge FCC To Open 5.9 GHz Band For Wi-Fi Law360 Kochs’ Dark-Money Network Bankrolls Campus “Free Speech” Group ExposedbyCMD Farmers turn to prisons to fill labor needs High Country News Outside influence from billionaires is OK for Gov. Doug Ducey and lawmakers, but not you AZCentral.com As rooftop solar grows, what should the future of net metering look like? Insider Louisville Maine Exhales The American Prospect State lawmakers may end license suspensions over fines Daily Astorian Bill to stop driving suspensions stalls Mail Tribune Climate Politics/Capitol Light (8) Resilience Your Two Cents Richmond.com Ginni Thomas Teams Up With James O’Keefe in Dark-Money Operation to ‘Protect’ Trump Right Wing Watch Supreme Court to Hear Case Involving Comcast’s Refusal to Carry Black-Owned Network The Epoch Times As Rooftop Solar Grows, What Should the Future of Net Metering Look Like? InsideClimate News Ken Dixon: On rat patrol as clock ticks to midnight The Middletown Press HOW ANTI-IMMIGRATION POLICIES ARE LEADING PRISONS TO LEASE CONVICTS AS FIELD LABORERS Pacific Standard Cooper: Copeland was a fiscal father Times Free Press The Republican Devolution Foreign Affairs As New Pipeline Battle Looms, Texas Moves Toward Criminalizing Pipeline Protest Truthout Washington has ‘best economic activity,’ Louisiana second worst after Alaska The Hayride Tucker Carlson’s Curious Turn From Koch Brothers Evangelist to Their Harshest Critic at Fox News Mediaite Tennessee Volkswagen plant to finish unionization vote ABC News New ALEC Membership List Names More Legislators Tied to the Group Documented State takeover of school districts is an insult to local communities The Highland County Advocates want Legislature to end license suspensions for people who can't afford traffic fines Blue Mountain Eagle Report: Washington has 'best economic activity,' Alaska worst, in US WDEL Ginni Thomas Teams Up With James O’Keefe in Dark-Money Operation to ‘Protect’ Trump Right Wing Watch Red States Are Criminalizing Speech to Wage War on Environmental Activists GQ Convicts are returning to farming – anti-immigrant policies are the reason The Edwardsville Intelligencer Pipeline Protesters Could Face 20 Years In Prison Under Trump Administration Proposal High Plains Public Radio Congressional Dems to EPA's Wheeler: Stop Spreading Oil Industry Lies About Clean Car Rules DeSmog First Amendment in the Crosshairs: Trump’s Latest Attacks Natural Resources Defense Council Ginni Thomas Plans New Conservative Supergroup to “Protect President Trump” The Intercept Trump administration seeks criminal crackdown on pipeline protests Politico In West Virginia's Education Wars, “We Can't Play Nice” Jacobin Magazine Pipeline Protest Laws Spark First Amendment Concerns U.S. News & World Report The Alabama Forfeiture Accountability System created – will collect and report data on state civil asset forfeitures Opelika Observer Former State Senator Linda Collins-Smith Found Dead, Death Being Investigated as a Possible Murder Yahoo Don’t Let the Swamp Win: President Trump & Congress Must Restrain Spending in Upcoming Budget Deal Conservative HQ A Court Blocked Trump’s Bid To Weaken Unions. The White House Found Another Way. HuffPost After the Net Neutrality Debate Settles, Rural Texans Still Lack Broadband Access The Texan Here's the 'deadest bill' of the Alabama House's 2019 session Montgomery Advertiser Why Are Unions Joining Conservative Groups to Protect Pipelines? Pacific Standard High-tax Connecticut plagued by pension problems Fox Business Exxon, Chevron face climate protests, reject new resolutions Midland Reporter-Telegram Opinion: The War On Abortion Is Happening In The States, And That's Where We Need To Fight Back BuzzFeed News Unions, activists plan to protest Gov. Scott Walker appearance at Vermont GOP fundraiser BurlingtonFreePress.com When a Traffic Ticket Costs $13000 The New York Times Texas Pipeline Bill Criminalizes Water Protectors The Real News Network Corporate-Funded Groups Continue Campaign to Cripple Public Sector Unions Exposed by CMD It’s time to free our local governments from corporate rule. Here’s how that happens Pennsylvania Capital-Star The Indiana abortion law the Supreme Court upheld isn't the end of Roe. But it's cruel for the sake of cruelty NBCNews Activists Push Back Against Utilities to Brighten Solar Energy's Prospects NBC Connecticut Other Nations Support Electric Cars. In The US, They’re Supposedly A Threat To Gas Tax Revenue. CleanTechinca
Click here to find archived news articles.

ALEC - The Backroom Where Laws Are Born

This is a glimpse into the world of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a corporate-funded charity that pays for lawmaker trips to resorts where they leave with ready-to-pass bills. Neither ALEC nor the Georgia legislature would show us where the money comes from, or who it goes to.

A Charity for Lawmakers? ALEC Legislator Resigns to Become Lobbyist

Rep. Ben Harbin resigned after two decades as a Georgia legislator the same day as 11ALive reporters asked him for an interview about the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) meeting where he was found behind closed doors with the top state lobbyist for the cell phone industry. Atlanta's 11Alive follows up on its behind-the-scenes investigation of ALEC.

ALEC Exposed is a project of the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). CMD does NOT accept donations from for-profit corporations or government agencies. More information about CMD is available here. You can reach CMD's Executive Director, Arn Pearson, via editor AT ALECexposed.org. Privacy policy: Other than material you post to this wiki in your name, our privacy policy is that we will not disclose private personally identifiable information or data about you, such as your name, email address, or other information, unless required by law. On copyright: ALEC Exposed considers contributions to this wiki to be released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License or in accordance with law. Information on how to provide us with notice regarding copyright is available at this link. Notices regarding copyright or other matters should be sent to our designated agent, Arn Pearson, via email (editor AT ALECexposed.org).

Worker and Consumer Rights · Tort Reform and Injured Americans · Privatizing Schools and Higher Ed Policy · Health, Pharmaceuticals and Safety Net Programs · Environment, Energy and Agriculture · Democracy, Voter Rights and Federal Power · Taxes and Budgets · Guns, Prisons, Crime and Immigration