When business-friendly bills and resolutions spread like wildfire in statehouses nationwide calling for something as far-fetched as a halt to EPA regulations on greenhouse gas emissions, ALEC is always a safe bet for a good place to look for theirย origin.
In the midst of hostingย itsย 39th Annual Meetingย this week in Salt Lake City, Utah,ย theย American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)ย is appropriately described as an ideologically conservative โcorporate bill millโ by the Center for Media and Democracy, the overseer of the ALEC Exposed project. 98 percent of ALEC‘s funding comes from corporations, according to CMD.
ALEC‘s meetings bring together corporate lobbyists and state legislators to schmooze and then vote on what it calls โmodel bills.โ Lobbyists, as CMD explains, have a โvoice and a vote in shaping policy.โ In short, they have de facto veto power over whether the prospective bills they present at these conferences become โmodelsโ that will be distributed to the offices of politicians in statehousesย nationwide.
For a concise version of how ALEC operates, see the brand new video below by Markย Fiore.
