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) 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 (CMD) Colorado (Common Cause) Florida (Progress Florida/ PFAW/CMD/Florida Watch Action/CC) Georgia (Better Georgia) Iowa (Progress Iowa/ CMD/PFAW/CC/Progress Now) Louisiana (Common Cause) Maine (Maine's Majority Education Fund) Michigan (Progress Michigan/ Michigan Citizen Action/CMD/CC/PFAW) Minnesota (Common Cause) Missouri (Progress Missouri) Nebraska (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 (CC/CMD) Utah (PFAW/CC/Alliance for a Better Utah/CMD) Virginia (Progress VA) Wisconsin (Center for Media and Democracy) State Bill Comparisons

ALEC News

Revealed: ALEC’s Health and Human Services Task Force Legislative Members Many of the task force legislative members will be attending ALEC's Life Sciences Academy this week with undisclosed drug industry representatives. Read the rest of this item here. Wisconsin Legislators Seek to Criminalize Climate, Environmental Protests with Latest Bill The Wisconsin bill echoes similar "critical infrastructure protection" model bills pushed out by the American Legislative Exchange Council and the Council of State Governments over the last two years. Read the rest of this item here. ALEC Fails to Denounce Dangerous and Racist Views of Its Leaders and Members White nationalist statements and ties draw fire from many within GOP, but not ALEC. Read the rest of this item here. ALEC Doubles Down on Trump, Corporate Agenda at Annual Meeting in Texas On tap are bills and resolutions targeting the integrity of our democracy, unions, the strength of our public education system, and the health of our environment. Read the rest of this item here. Everything Is Bigger in Texas, Including ALEC’s Influence Texas tops chart for number of ALEC legislators, with 59 politicians tied to corporate bill mill, the local delegation might be the largest delegation at this week’s meeting. Read the rest of this item here. New Report Documents Pervasive Influence of ALEC in Texas As corporate lobbyists and legislators prepare to gather in Austin, CMD and Common Cause release a report detailing the pay-to-play group’s firm grip on Texas politics. Read the rest of this item here.

More ALEC News

ALEC Plans “Confidential” Helicopter Border Tour in Texas for Board Members ALEC will take its legislative board members on a “confidential border tour” on Monday, August 12, just before the start of it’s Annual Meeting in Austin, according to documents obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy. Read the rest of this item here. Coke, Pepsi Drop Trade Association Pushing Plastic Ban Bans Plastic Industry Association works with ALEC to block regulation of single-use plastics. Read the rest of this item here. ALEC Says “Strike!” Just Do It Without Unions The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has gone on the record as supporting the right of workers to bargain collectively, and even strike, for better working conditions — as long as they do it without a union. Read the rest of this item here. 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.

Join the Conversation!

Breaking News
Hightower: Who’s behind suppressing your right to protest? The Ledger Activists, Physicists and Traffic Flow Uprise RI Bill to Criminalize Environmental Protests in Wisconsin Heads to the Assembly Floor ExposedbyCMD Commentary: A note on the discount rate Pensions & Investments Court documents show beef checkoff sends millions to cattle lobby Food & Environment Reporting Network North Carolina may have fairer congressional districts by 2020 Facing South The power of money Courier-Gazette & Camden Herald Democrats Impeach Joe Biden, Fiddle as the Planet Burns CounterPunch What the BLM Shake-Up Could Mean for Public Lands and Their Climate Impact Inside Climate News D.C. Digest: Sen. Jim Inhofe blasts Tinker housing contractor Tulsa World Revealed: ALEC’s Health and Human Services Task Force Legislative Members ExposedbyCMD Hightower: Who’s behind suppression of right to protest? Muskogee Phoenix DRAWING THE LINE: Bill to make it felony to trespass on construction sites Wisconsin Law Journal Activists Say New Laws To Protect Critical Infrastructure Aim To Silence Them WAMU 88.5 How the Koch brothers got us here Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists [Thttps://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-generate-2c32e0a6-bb0b-4378-a24a-f6352b688b89.html he BP CEO's case for staying in trade groups] Axios Activists say new laws to protect critical infrastructure aim to silence them MPRNews US Lobby Groups Most Effective at Blocking Climate Action – Report DeSmog Blog HIKERS, TRUMP, AND THE CAPITALIST CONSPIRACY TO RUIN PUBLIC LANDS The Intercept Have Conservatives Transformed the States? Niskanen Center Journalist Sharon Lerner: “How the Plastics Industry Is Fighting to Keep Polluting the World” Democracy Now Wisconsin Lawmakers Seek to Criminalize Environmental Protests Truthout Most states earn a C in ALEC's choice-focused report card Education Drive Greenpeace Protesters Charged Under New Critical Infrastructure Law The Maritime Executive New State Laws Are Criminalizing Protest to Protect Oil and Gas Companies Rolling Stone How to Deal With Corruption in Washington Washington Monthly Activists Face Felony Charges for Blocking Houston Oil Tanker Corridor The Real News Network To rein in cities, Texas tries to ban their lobbying Herald-Mail Media A Judge Just Blocked South Dakota’s “Riot-Boosting” Law, But Anti-Protest Measures Keep Spreading Mother Jones Greenpeace members face federal, state charges in Houston protest Reuters In Another Win for Koch Network, Trump Strips States' Rights to Adopt Clean Car Standards DeSmog Koch-Backed Republicans Want to Tax Your Electric Car Sludge The Environment Is in Trump’s Crosshairs. We Need to Fight Back. The Nation The Reactionary Heartland Is a Myth Dissent Charter Schools Were Never a Good Idea. They Were a Corporate Plot All Along Common Dreams Saudi Arabia Denies Its Key Role in Climate Change Even As It Prepares for the Worst The Intercept Law Enforcement Cracks Down On Climate Activists The Appeal Inside Conservative Groups’ Effort to ‘Make Dishwashers Great Again’ The New York Times Ferro: Candidate filings should be more readily available Idaho Press Duke Energy’s zero-carbon goal undermined by massive gas rush Energy and Policy Institute How the Koch Network's ‘Social Change' Strategy Is Built to Kill the Electric Car DeSmog ALEC members halt green energy proposal Washington Examiner Greenpeace members face felony charges in Houston bridge protest KFGO Fees on Electric Cars, Inspired by Koch Network, Are Unfairly Penalizing Drivers, Says Consumer Reports DeSmog Blog To protect the environment, we must first protect the Constitution Rutland Herald Government by and for the rich Daily News-Miner Should EV Owners Pay More Than Gas-Burning Drivers? Some States Say Yes Forbes ACLU: Kentucky Bill Could Muzzle Pipeline Protests Morehead State Public Radio Plastics ban not in the bag for Palm Beach, but there’s hope The Palm Beach Post The Left Shouldn’t Shy Away From Being Pro-Growth Yahoo Finance What To Do With All That Garbage? Murfreesboro Voice More States Hitting Electric Vehicle Owners With High Fees, a Consumer Reports Analysis Shows Consumer Reports Rick Perry says the U.S. leads on producing energy and reducing emissions. Is he right? Houston Chronicle Aim for good government, not corporate control The Central Virginian Bill Pre-Filed In Kentucky Legislature Would Make Pipeline Protests A Felony 89.3 WFPL What K Street sees coming this fall Politico Charles Koch Is Funding a Campaign to Kill Food Stamps and Medicaid Truthout Blocking a pipeline in Kentucky would be a felony if this lawmaker has his way Courier Journal As State Governments Stifle Local Democracy, Funders and Nonprofits Are Fighting Back Inside Philanthropy THE LATE DAVID KOCH HELPED POISON AMERICAN POLITICAL CULTURE South Florida Times The Rank-and-File Strategy and the Trade Union Bureaucracy Jacobin Behind Enemy Lines at ALEC's Right-Wing Policy Conference Austin Chronicle Justice Bolick says attendance at political dinner wasn’t improper Arizona Capitol Times Election Manipulators Use ALEC To Push Their Partisan Power Grabs Against Voters ExposedbyCMD Industry Flexes Political Muscle in States to Criminalize Aggressive Pipeline Protests Insurance Journal American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) Proposes CBD Related Banking Bills Times of CBD As It Cultivates a Socially Responsible Image, Juul Sends Lobbyist to ALEC’s Annual Meeting The American Prospect David Koch, Libertarian Activist and Billionaire Philanthropist, Dies at 79 Variety Here are 11 things the Koch brothers didn’t want you to know Alternet Mr. Trump Goes to Kensington Counterpunch Plain Talk: Evers needs to rethink ban on right-wing media group The Cap Times How Preemption is Expanding and Changing in 2019 CitiesSpeak.org How the Koch brothers co-opted minority groups in a push for a profit-based approach to education Alternet Why are Republicans taking away birth control? Because they don't want women to have it Salon Ken Ivory is going to work for a consulting firm he recently secured thousands of state dollars to hire Salt Lake Tribune The Koch Brothers Have A Mandate To Destroy The EV Revolution — Are You Buying In? 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