The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) describes themselves as United States of America’s “largest nonpartisan, voluntary membership organization of state legislators dedicated to the principles of limited government, free markets and federalism…ALEC is a forum for stakeholders to exchange ideas and develop real, state-based solutions to encourage growth, preserve economic security and protect hardworking taxpayers”. However, though it may seem that this is just a legislative group where politicians and corporations can discuss ideas for potential laws; this in fact is not the case.
Under the overarching branch of ALEC corporate members are able to propose laws to their political counterparts. When holding their task force meetings secret ballots are conducted, where corporate lobbyists are able to vote as equals with lawmakers on bills which then will be introduced as possible laws to be enacted. Through the American Legislative Exchange Council corporation have a massive saw in bills that can be and sometimes are passed as laws in the U.S.A. Instances have even been found where lawmakers, when submitting their bill, have forgotten to take off the ALEC letter head. Though in these cases many deny that their submission came directly from ALEC, it also shows that for some lawmakers their affiliation to this group does not seem to be an issue to bear over. Corporate funders of ALEC are generally the greatest benefactors of ALEC proposed bills.
The corporation Walmart was a member of ALEC at the time they adopted the Stand Your Ground Law. Stand Your Ground Law is also known in some states as the Line in The Sand Law or No Duty to Retreat Law. This law is states that a defendant can ‘stand their ground’ per say and use force without retreating in order to protect and defend themselves or others against a situation that they perceive as threatening. When this law was passed in several states it caused gun sales to rise rapidly, and Walmart benefitted from the sudden demand. This is because Walmart is the biggest seller of long-guns in the United States of America and is also the largest retailer of bullets in the world.
When Trayvon Martin was killed, his shooter George Zimmerman was found innocent due to the Stand Your Ground Law in the state of Florida. After this incident this particular law went under immense scrutiny by the public, causing Walmart and eventually other corporations to leave ALEC. However, the family that is in charge of Walmart still continues to fund the organization.
ALEC has also has had a hand in our current incarceration system. They have been a major force behind some of the toughest sentencing laws in the U.S.A. Some of the passed proposals include mandatory minimums for non-violent drug offenders, the Three Strikes Laws, and truth in sentencing laws. Truth in sentencing laws reduce the possibility of early release for the incarcerated. It requires offenders to serve a considerable portion of the prison sentence imposed by the court before being eligible for release. In 1995, then State Representative Scott Walker, who was an ALEC member, sponsored Wisconsin’s truth in sentencing laws and reportedly used their statistics to push the law forward.
More recently, ALEC has proposed possible solutions to the overcrowding, which it helped create through their numerous incarceration bills. The solutions they are bring forward now include privatizing the parole process through the private bail bond industry. The American Bail Coalition is an executive member of ALEC’s Public Safety and Elections Task Force, and would profit greatly from this. Other corporations have also been aided by ALEC’s incarceration reform policies. One being Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) is a major corporate sponsor. ALEC has worked to pass state laws which establish private for-profit prisons, CCA is one of the largest private prison firms in the U.S.A. ALEC has proven extremely capable of creating endless ways to assist private corporations take advantage of the country’s massive prison population.
Should corporations and politicians be in the same private club, where laws are looked as advances in the corporate world instead of our world?