Establishment of a Special Advisory Subcommittee for the Review of Model Policies Exposed

The Establishment of a Special Advisory Subcommittee for the Review of Model Policies was considered by ALEC's Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force at the Spring Task Force Summit on May 11, 2012. This bill was part of the ALEC task force agenda between 2010 and 2012, but due to incomplete information, it is not known if the bill passed in a vote by legislators and lobbyists at ALEC task force meetings, if ALEC sought to distance itself from the bill as the public increased scrutiny of its pay-to-play activities, or if key operative language from the bill has been introduced by an ALEC legislator in a state legislature in the ensuing period or became binding law.

ALEC Draft Bill Text

WHEREAS, The American Legislative Exchange Council’s Task Force on Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development has considered several hundred model proposals and;

WHEREAS, it is to the benefit of the Task Force to assure that these bills reflect the current policy, values, and interests of ALEC;

THEREFORE, the Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development Task Force adopts the following procedures for purposes of its internal operations:

SECTION 1. {Establishment, Charge, and Composition of Special Advisory Subcommittee}

(A) The American Legislative Exchange Council’s Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development Task Force herby establishes a Special Advisory Subcommittee for the Review of Task Force Model Policies.

(B) The Special Advisory Subcommittee for the Review of Model Policies (hereafter “the Subcommittee”) shall be an advisory body charged with reviewing Task Force model policy and making recommendations to the Task Force.

(C) The Subcommittee shall review and make recommendations to the Task Force on model policy approved by the Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development Task Force.

(D)The Subcommittee shall consist of:

(1) The Public Sector Task Force Chair

(2) The Private Sector Task Force Chair

(3) One member of the Task Force designated by the Public Sector Task Force Chair

(4) One member of the Task Force designated by the Private Sector Task Force Chair

(E) The Task Force Advisor and Task Force Director shall serve as ex officio members of the subcommittee but shall not vote.

SECTION 2. {Reports and Content of Reports}

(A)Immediately following the Task Force’s approval of this proposal, the Task Force Advisor will present to the Task Force a list of bills to be considered in the first report of the Subcommittee.

(1) Within one week of the approval of this proposal the Task Force Director will send out a list of the models to be considered in the first report to the entire Task Force and initiate an “open commentary” period.

(2) During this period, Task Force members may send comments regarding the models directly to the Task Force Director for submission to the Subcommittee.

(B) The Subcommittee shall submit to the Task Force Director, at least forty five days prior to its next Task Force meeting following the meeting at which this proposal is approved, a report. The Task Force Director will then transmit to the Task Force, at least thirty five days prior to its next in-person meetings following the meeting at which this proposal is approved, that report.

(C) Each report shall contain a summary of each model bill considered, a subcommittee recommendation regarding that bill, and a brief description of the reasoning behind that recommendation.

(D)The Subcommittee shall make one of four recommendations regarding each bill. The recommendations shall be as follows:

(1) Retain: This represents the Subcommittee’s recommendation that the model bill should be retained without modification.

(2) Repeal: This represents the Subcommittee’s recommendation that the model bill should be repealed subject to the approval of the ALEC Legislative Board.

(3) Make Technical Amendments: The represents the subcommittees’ recommendation that the fundamental principles, gist, and impact of the model legislation are and ought to be consistent with ALEC policy going forward but that certain minor modifications are necessary to bring the bill into conformity with current realities. When technical amendments are proposed, a specific list of such amendments shall be included in the report. Topics for technical amendments include but are not limited to updates to the titles of government agencies, changes to dates, and changes in terminology to reflect changes in technology, custom, and common usage as well as corrections to grammar and spelling.

(4) Further Review by a Subcommittee or the Task Force as a Whole: This represents the Subcommittee’s recommendation that a particular subcommittee or the Task Force as a whole consider specific amendments and modifications to the model bill that have the impact of changing its fundamental principles, gist, or impact.

(E) Each report shall be approved by a majority of members of the subcommittee before it is submitted to the Task Force as a whole. Any member of the committee voting against the report or any portion of the report will be allowed to provide an advisory “minority report” outlining reasons for dissent.

(F) Subsequent reports will be provided at the discretion of the Subcommittee’s members.

(1) Subsequent to any additional report, the task force advisor shall present to the task force a list of bills to be reviewed.

(2) All subsequent report shall follow the procedures in sections (A), (B), (C), (D) and (E) above.

Section 3. {Procedures Relating to Reports and Models}

(A) Each report shall be voted on by the Task Force as a whole under special rules of procedure:

(1) Initial debate on the report shall be limited to 30 minutes.

(2) Approval of the report will require majority support by both the public and private sectors

(3) If a report is rejected by either the public sector or the private sector of the Task Force, any member of the Task Force may immediately make a privileged, non-debatable motion to consider any single model proposal mentioned in the report separately from the report as a whole.

(4) Such a motion, if successful, will require in an immediate vote by both public and private sectors on the recommendation in question.

(5) Subsequent to votes on motions described in (2) and (3) the task force shall vote on the report again, deleting all provisions that have been subject to such motions.

(B) Following the approval of a report, the Task Force Director shall prepare the following:

(1) A list of model proposals to be repealed that shall be forwarded to the ALEC Legislative Board for its approval.

(2) A list of model proposals to receive technical amendments to be forwarded to the ALEC Legislative Board for its approval.

(C) All model bills suggested for further review from subcommittees or the Task Force as a whole shall be scheduled for discussion in the appropriate forum.

(1) Any individual or group of individuals who are members of the Task Force may serve as sponsors of any piece of legislation being considered for further review.

(2) In the event that multiple groups or individuals wish to serve as a sponsor, the group with more members of the Task Force will be designated as the “lead” sponsor and others will be assured the ability to offer their proposals as amendments.

(3) In the event that no individual steps forward to serve as the sponsor of the model legislation being recommended for review, the Task Force Advisor will serve as the bill sponsor for purposes of debate and discussion and shall have an affirmative responsibility to work for the passage of the committee’s recommendations but will not have a vote on the matters concerning it.