While Idahoans were blindsided by Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna’s education plans and other extremely conservative bills introduced this Legislative session, our situation is by no means isolated. An aggressive state-by-state effort to dictate the terms of the public policy debate across the country in favor of special interests was launched years ago by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Although purporting to be a bipartisan organization, ALEC is anything but. Since its inception, ALEC has leveraged vast amounts of corporate money to exploit loopholes in campaign contribution regulations and take advantage of state legislatures that often have limited research and support services to educate legislators .ALEC presents them with “model legislation” and supporting studies, all crafted by corporate special interests. Through ALEC’s structure and funding, conservatives have been able to gain the upper hand to heavily influence and control legislative agendas, pass their legislation, and begin governing America from the bottom up.
In the early 1970’s with the success of national environmental regulation, the fight for reproductive rights, the Congressional passage of the Equal Rights Amendment and the increase in financial and banking regulation, leading conservatives feared that their lack of organization would lead to what they deemed a continuing overreach by government. In September 1973, conservative activist Paul Weyrich followed the lead of liberal organizations and think-tanks, founding his own conservative organization, the American Legislative Exchange Council, for the purpose of bringing together legislators to promote conservative legislation. ALEC began with a meager budget of $2,700, two volunteer staffers, and a membership consisting of 13 state legislators. According to its corporate bylaws, its mission is to, “Assist legislators in the states by sharing research information and staff support facilities; establish a clearinghouse for bills at the state level, and provide for a bill exchange program; disseminate model legislation and promote the introduction of companion bills in Congress and state legislatures; formulate legislative action programs.”
While ALEC maintains that it is a bipartisan conservative organization that is a partnership between legislators and the private sector, Democratic members were few and far between. The organization’s current six directors are all Republicans as are all seventeen of its board members. Its current twenty-four Private Enterprise Board Members come from major American companies in the pharmaceutical, consumer goods, energy, and other sectors. ALEC claims over two thousand individuals in its general membership drawn from more than one-third of state legislators across the United States but will not divulge who those members are, so it is impossible to confirm its membership’s political affiliations.
Legislators pay $50 each for annual membership which may include gifts and trips to conferences frequently at no charge through ALEC “scholarships.” Private enterprise Board Members pay anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000 in ALEC corporate dues and an additional $1,500 to $5,000 to qualify for one of the limited number of seats on one of the ALEC Task Forces. A recent NPR story on ALEC stated that tax records report that collectively, corporations pay as much as $6 million dollars a year to ALEC.
Why Would a Corporation Invest so Heavily in ALEC?
In the 1980s, ALEC leadership moved away from hot button social issues with the realization that there was greater influence and funds for organizations involved in drafting legislation catering to corporate interests. In its current structure, corporations on ALEC Task Forces have a seat at the table alongside the legislators who will help pass the legislation they draft together. Corporate members that have paid for a seat on a Task Force control what bills are drafted and have veto power over the legislation’s approval. According to the ALEC website, nearly a thousand bills of ALEC “model legislation” are introduced annually into state legislatures, and twenty percent pass. ALEC’s Taskforces include Civic Justice; Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development; Education; Energy, Environment and Agriculture; Health and Human Services; International Relations; Public Safety and Elections; Tax and Fiscal Policy; Telecommunications and Information Technology.
WhyTargetStateLegislatures?
While a bill can be introduced at a national level, if it is blocked once, it will not be enacted anywhere. However, if legislation is introduced at the state level, it is likely to pass somewhere, and as ALEC has found, with a little effort their legislation is taking hold across the country, state by state. Compounding this is that few states have staff able to assist legislators in researching and drafting bills, leaving legislatures open to influence. Forty-one state legislatures are part-time and 33 have no paid staff, a situation that ALEC has learned to exploit. While ALEC has near limitless funding to help inform legislators, groups with opposing views cannot compete with the corporate dollars flooding into ALEC leaving the “education process” terribly one-sided. Additionally, ALEC is aided by the fact that there are far fewer disclosure laws at the state level compared to the national level. Targeting states avoids conflicts with the Federal Election Commission.
With this in mind, ALEC appoints one or two chairmen per state who are charged with taking ALEC’s “model legislation” home to introduce it in their respective state legislatures. The bills are accompanied by various supporting ALEC “white papers” and other documentation to support their position. A significant amount of conservative legislation introduced throughout state legislatures was either authored by ALEC, or strongly influenced by them. Because of ALEC’s nonprofit status, there is a question of whether their efforts cross the line from educating to illegal lobbying.
Recent “model legislation” crafted by corporations and passed in state legislatures include Arizona’s notorious Immigration Law SB-1070 drafted in partnership with the Correction Corporations of America at last year’s ALEC conference. With Arizona’s bill, Correction Corporations of America stands to make millions of dollars in their for-profit prisons. ALEC also claims victory in the passage of numerous anti-union bills across the country drafted at their conferences by the Commerce Taskforce.
ALEC in Idaho
Idaho has seen its share of ALEC influence, conveyed by Idaho’s ALEC State Chairman Senator Patti Ann Lodge. Three of most visible pieces of legislation were the bills introduced by Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna. These bills were part of the push to undercut collective bargaining and privatize education, two policies championed by ALEC. Luna’s bills were a near duplicate of the policies showcased in the September/October issue of INSIDE ALEC. Other legislation included the Right to Farm Act that makes it nearly impossible to file nuisance claims against the expansion of farming and feedlots next to homes and the latest gas drilling regulations by the Idaho Oil and Gas Conservation Commission allowing for controversial horizontal fracturing.
With the U.S. Supreme Court Citizens United Ruling against mandatory disclosure and disclaimer requirements for corporate funding that opened the floodgate to corporate dollars in the political process, ALEC and its corporate partners have carte blanche in the legislative process. With the current makeup of the Idaho Legislature we will continue to see ALEC’s influence. In its bid to pass conservative legislation that advances corporate interests at the expense of the larger public, ALEC is just getting started.
