Discreet nonprofit American Legislative Exchange Council writes bills for conservative lawmakers

[Playinghardball]

Source:Raw Story
By Pro Publica

This week, both the Los Angeles Times and The Nation put the spotlight on a little-known but influential conservative nonprofit that creates "model" state legislation that often make its way into law. The organization has helped craft some of the most controversial—and industry-friendly—legislation of recent years.

The American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC, crafted a model resolution for states calling the EPA's attempts to regulate greenhouse gasses a "trainwreck" and asking Congress to slow or stop the regulations, the Times reported. A press release on ALEC's site says that at least 13 other states have passed resolutions based on their model language.

ALEC was also involved in the writing of Arizona's new immigration law, which gave police officers broad powers to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally.

Brought into being by a legendary conservative who also founded the well-known Heritage Foundation, ALEC has been around since the early 1970s. It calls itself a "policy making program that unites members of the public and private sectors in a dynamic partnership" based on "Jeffersonian principles." Critics say it has devolved into a pay-for-play operation, where state legislators and their families get to go on industry-funded junkets and major corporations get to ghostwrite model laws and pass them on to receptive politicians.

More at: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/07/16/discreet-nonprofit-american-legislative-exchange-council-writes-bills-for-conservative-lawmakers/

[BlueIris]

1. Gross. But this explains a lot. nt

[Tippy]

2. Locking people up is profitalbe

I became inerested because in our local paper there was an article yesterday, about our jail needing new locks, amazing...first of all there is no way this should be going on but at least now I understand why it is going on...Remember which party wants to privatise everything.. Our jail is over crowded, our courts can nolonger keep up. Our prison's are full. and CCA thinks we need to build more. I am sure they do, first thing you know, we will have more prison's than churches.

1. Prisons can earn $90-$200 per inmate per night, which translates into nearly $5 billion in revenues each year.

2. The industry has lobbied diligently to secure profits, supporting and even writing laws to increase prison sentences

3. Here in our county CCA is also in charge of Probation Services.

4. CCA representatives at an American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) conference in December 2009. "When Pearce introduced the bill in January 2010, 36 senators signed on as co-sponsors. Over the next six months, 30 of them received donations from CCA, GEO or MTC."

Our county is being screwed by CCA....big time. These maggots are draining us dry

[pampango]

3. Not surprisingly "ALEC was also involved in the writing of Arizona's new immigration law..."

Since Alabama went with an even "tougher" immigration law, ALEC probably wrote that one for the repub legislature there, as well as in Georgia, South Carolina and Louisiana.