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ALEC News

ALEC Sets the Table for Gerrymandering, Union Busting, Protecting Fossil Fuels, and Privatizing Schools When the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) convenes its 45th annual meeting of legislators and corporate lobbyists at the swank Hilton New Orleans Riverside hotel on August 8, it will serve up a veritable banquet of union-busting, gerrymandering, pro-fossil fuel, and school privatization proposals for lawmakers to take back home. Welcoming the ALEC crowd will be Jason Saine, a North Carolina Representative and ALEC's National Chairman. Earlier this year, CMD reported that Saine used $19,000 from his campaign kitty to order custom-tailored suits. Read the rest of this item here. Is ALEC Too Extreme for Exxon? ExxonMobil, the largest oil and gas company in the world, will not renew its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) after a split within the corporate lobbying group over how to address climate change, Bloomberg reported. Exxon's exit follows a disagreement over a resolution introduced in December by the Heartland Institute, that would have asked the federal government to reconsider its findings that greenhouse gasses are harmful to human health. Read the rest of this item here. ALEC's Deadly Asbestos Agenda Benefits Koch Industries, Nationwide ALEC named Missouri Republican state Rep. Bruce DeGroot as a "Legislator of the Week" in June. Why is ALEC so fond of DeGroot? Because he has cheerfully championed ALEC legislation to restrict the right of terminally ill, asbestos victims to sue over mesothelioma. In doing so, DeGroot is helping the many U.S. companies, including ALEC funders Koch Industries and Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, that have asbestos-related liability. Read the rest of this item here. EPIC Fail: Supreme Court Turns Back the Clock to Strip Workers of Power When unemployment drops and labor markets tighten, wages are expected to rise, but few workers are seeing more money in their paychecks since unemployment dipped below 4 percent this month. Economists agree that a key variable in the wage stagnation is the inability of the vast majority of American workers to join together to demand higher wages. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Epic Systems Corporation v. Lewis that businesses can prohibit their workers from banding together to battle their employers in court in disputes over pay and workplace conditions. Read the rest of this item here.