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How did ALEC get exempted from South Carolina lobbying ethics law?
How did ALEC get exempted from South Carolina lobbying ethics law?
The American Legislative Exchange Council, a special interest group that writes laws favorable to its corporate sponsors, is specifically exempted from lobbying regulations in South Carolina’s ethics laws.
Several Republicans and Democrats in the General Assembly are members of ALEC, though at least one has dropped his membership amid criticism from a Democratic lawmaker and the press.
Fairfield Democratic Rep. Boyd Brown last week sent a letter to his colleagues calling on them to leave the group that offers legislators getaway retreats to fancy resorts.
Funded largely by the libertarian Koch brothers, ALEC creates model legislation for state legislatures to adopt, such as Voter ID laws and other controversial bills like the Stand Your Ground self-defense law. It deals with everything from health care to immigration to energy policy. ALEC bills are drawn up on behalf of corporate interests and introduced in states where lawmakers are members. The group holds conferences and treats its lawmaker members to vacations. It has 2,000 legislative members and 300 corporate members, according to a report on the group in The Nation.
It is such retreats where ALEC is exempt in the state’s lobbying laws. While other special interest groups would have to extend convention invitations to a discernable group from the Legislative Manual for lawmakers to accept them, ALEC does not -- the group is specifcally exempted by name. [Section 2-17-90]...
The American Legislative Exchange Council, a special interest group that writes laws favorable to its corporate sponsors, is specifically exempted from lobbying regulations in South Carolina’s ethics laws.
Several Republicans and Democrats in the General Assembly are members of ALEC, though at least one has dropped his membership amid criticism from a Democratic lawmaker and the press.
Fairfield Democratic Rep. Boyd Brown last week sent a letter to his colleagues calling on them to leave the group that offers legislators getaway retreats to fancy resorts.
Funded largely by the libertarian Koch brothers, ALEC creates model legislation for state legislatures to adopt, such as Voter ID laws and other controversial bills like the Stand Your Ground self-defense law. It deals with everything from health care to immigration to energy policy. ALEC bills are drawn up on behalf of corporate interests and introduced in states where lawmakers are members. The group holds conferences and treats its lawmaker members to vacations. It has 2,000 legislative members and 300 corporate members, according to a report on the group in The Nation.
It is such retreats where ALEC is exempt in the state’s lobbying laws. While other special interest groups would have to extend convention invitations to a discernable group from the Legislative Manual for lawmakers to accept them, ALEC does not -- the group is specifcally exempted by name. [Section 2-17-90]...
http://www.southernstudies.org/2012/04/how-did-alec-get-exempted-from-south-carolina-lobbying-ethics-law.html
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