[3]The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC [4]) is a shadow legislature that has given us many lousy laws. Populated by corporate agents and Republican office-holders, ALEC passes "model bills," which its lawmaker members take to their statehouses and push into law. In 2011, news journals [5] dragged ALEC into the light [6], and later pinned it as the source of the "shoot first [7]" law that helped the killer walk in the Trayvon Martin case. With the bad press, ALEC began losing membership [8], and disbanded its gun proliferation and voter suppression [9] committee. But, ALEC still drives its evident core mission to shackle democracy, and to unleash big money and mega-corporations, with such laws as those:
- to further cut taxes [10] for big corporations and the rich,
- to further cut and privatize [11] government services,
- to destroy public education [12],
- to deny the right [11] to a labor union,
- to protect factory farms [13] from local laws and law suits against the farms’ stench and risks to public health,
- to hamper municipalities and counties [14] from building networks and offering Internet and television [15] service to the public,
- to ban local governments [16] from guaranteeing workers paid sick days [17] and living wages [18], and
- to ban cities and counties [16] from curtailing GMO’s [19] and pesticide use [20].
Today, ALEC fights against clean energy with its current package [21] of model bills:
- to stifle greenhouse gas limits [22],
- to undo net metering [23], which credits a customer for any extra solar [24] power that one puts back onto the electric grid, and
- to curtail the progress [25] of clean energy.
For all the lousy model bills-come-law that ALEC has given us, and for those it still seeks to give us, let’s give a really good model bill to ALEC. Our model bill [26] does not need a shadow legislature. Like many of its kind [27], it was written and passed by a real legislature during the "Progressive Era" of the early 20th century. Our model bill does not need the input of corporate agents. It serves only the public interest, and recognizes the profit-taking corporation as a special and powerful corrupting influence on government. In fact, our model bill bans corporations and their agents, outside of narrowly defined and well-lit lobbying channels [28], from any try at swaying public policy. Under its terms, corporate agents voting in a shadow legislature would face prison time, and the corporation that sent them could face dissolution. From the Wisconsin law book of 1919 [29] — here is [30] a model bill for ALEC:
No corporation doing business in this state shall pay or contribute, or offer consent or agree to pay or contribute, directly or indirectly, any money, property, free service of its officers or employees or thing of value to any political party, organization, committee or individual for any political purpose whatsoever, or for the purpose of influencing legislation of any kind, or to promote or defeat the candidacy of any person for nomination, appointment or election to any political office.
Penalty: Any officer, employe, agent or attorney or other representative of any corporation, acting for and in behalf of such corporation, who shall violate [this act] shall be punished upon conviction by a fine of not less than one hundred nor more than five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in the state prison for a period of not less than one nor more than five years, or by both … and if the corporation shall be subject to a penalty then by forfeiture in double the amount of any fine so imposed … and if a domestic corporation, it may be dissolved, … and if a foreign or nonresident corporation, its right to do business in this state may be declared forfeited.
Sources
ALEC [4] ALEC Exposed – The Center for Media and Democracy
news journals [5] ‘ALEC Exposed’ – John Nichols; The Nation; 12 July 2011
dragged ALEC into the light [6] ‘A Discreet Nonprofit Brings Together Politicians and Corporations to Write ‘Model Bills’’ by Lois Beckett; ProPublica, July 15, 2011
shoot first [7] ‘ALEC Ratified the NRA-Conceived Law That May Protect Trayvon Martin’s Killer’ – Brendan Fischer; PR Watch; 21 March 2012
losing membership [8] ‘ALEC facing funding crisis from donor exodus in wake of Trayvon Martin row’ – Ed Pilkington and Suzanne Goldenberg; The Guardian; 3 December 2013
voter suppression [9] ‘ALEC Exposed: Rigging Elections’ – John Nichols; The Nation; 12 July 2011
further cut taxes [10] ‘ALEC Exposed: Taxes and Budgets’ – The Center for Media and Democracy
further cut and privatize [11] ‘ALEC Exposed: Business Domination Inc.’ – Joel Rogers and Laura Dresser; The Nation; 11 July 2011
destroy public education [12] ‘A Smart ALEC Threatens Public Education’ by Julie Underwood and Julie F. Mead; Education Week; 29 February 2012
deny the right [11] ‘ALEC Exposed: Business Domination Inc.’ – Joel Rogers and Laura Dresser; The Nation; 11 July 2011
protect factory farms [13] ‘ALEC Exposed: Protecting Factory Farms and Sewage Sludge?’ – Jill Richardson; PR Watch; 4 August 2011
hamper municipalities and counties [14] ‘How ALEC Helps Big Telecom Change State Laws for Corporate Gain’ Brendan Fischer; PR Watch; 13 February 2014
offering Internet and television [15] ‘Municipal Telecommunications Private Industry Safeguards Act’ – ALEC; via ALEC Exposed
ban local governments [16] ‘ALEC Stands its Ground, but Stumbles’ – Brendan Fischer; PR Watch; 6 December 2013
paid sick days [17] ‘Efforts to Deliver “Kill Shot” to Paid Sick Leave Tied to ALEC’ – Brendan Fischer; PR Watch; 3 April 2013
living wages [18] ‘Living Wage Mandate Preemption Act’ – ALEC via ALEC Exposed
ban cities and counties [16] ‘ALEC Stands its Ground, but Stumbles’ – Brendan Fischer; PR Watch; 6 December 2013
GMO’s [19] ‘Biotechnology State Uniformity Resolution’ – ALEC via ALEC Exposed
pesticide use [20] ‘State Pesticide Preemption Act’ – ALEC via ALEC Exposed
current package [21] ‘Revealed: ALEC’s 2014 Attacks on the Environment’ – Nick Surgey; PR Watch; 23 April 2014
stifle greenhouse gas limits [22] ‘ALEC Forges New Bills for its Polluting Company Members’ – PR Watch; 6 November 2013
undo net metering [23] ‘ALEC calls for penalties on ‘freerider’ homeowners in assault on clean energy’ by Suzanne Goldenberg and Ed Pilkington; The Guardian; 4 December 2013
extra solar [24] ‘The Koch Attack on Solar Energy’ – The New York Times; 26 April 2014
curtail the progress [25] ‘Q&A: ALEC’s new tactics to weaken renewable laws’ by Kari Lydersen; Midwest Energy News
Our model bill [26] ‘Old Law Could Stop Corporate Dinosaurs’ by Quinn Hungeski; The Paragraph; 24 January 2010
Like many of its kind [27] ‘Fixing Corporations: The Legacy of the Founding Parents’ by Jane Anne Morris; 1996; The Progressive Populist
well-lit lobbying channels [28] ‘Wisconsin Statutes, 1919’ – See ‘Lobbying and Logrolling’ section
Wisconsin law book of 1919 [31] ‘Wisconsin Statutes, 1919’ via Google Books
here is [30] ‘Wisconsin Statutes, 1919’ See “Political contributions by corporations prohibited.”
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By Quinn Hungeski, [32]TheParagraph.com [33], Copyright [32] (CC BY-ND) [34] 2014