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More ALEC News

Barring Plastic Bag Bans, another ALEC Law Takes Aim at Local Democracy

The pay-to-play model of government advanced by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) scored another victory this week. On Tuesday, the Wisconsin Senate voted along party lines to approve a bill that would prohibit local communities from issuing their own rules on plastic bags and other containers.

This is part of an emerging national trend. Read the rest of this item here.

CMD Calls on ALEC to Disclose Information during Sunshine Week

In the spirit of national Sunshine Week, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) has written a letter to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and its state chairs (see list) calling on them to live up to their own statements about the importance of transparency and release basic information about their legislative operations.

"It's interesting that ALEC has touted the principles of public transparency for government accountability," said CMD executive director Lisa Graves. "Now we'd like to see ALEC apply those principles to their own legislative activities and interactions between ALEC legislators and ALEC corporations that undermine accountability." Read the rest of this item here.

Cashing in on Kids: 172 ALEC Education Bills Push Privatization in 2015

Despite widespread public opposition to the corporate-driven education privatization agenda, at least 172 measures reflecting American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) model bills were introduced in 42 states in 2015, according to an analysis by the Center for Media and Democracy. (A PDF of this report may be downloaded here.)

One of ALEC's biggest funders is Koch Industries and the Koch brothers' fortune. The Kochs have had a seat at the table on ALEC's education task force via their "grassroots" group Americans for Prosperity and their Freedom Partners group, which was described as the Kochs' "secret bank."

The Kochs also have a voice on ALEC's Education Task Force through multiple state-based think tanks of the State Policy Network, ALEC's sister organization. Read the rest of this item here.

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+<h3>[http://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/03/13060/barring-plastic-bag-bans-another-alec-bill-takes-aim-local-democracy Barring Plastic Bag Bans, another ALEC Law Takes Aim at Local Democracy]</h3>
+The pay-to-play model of government advanced by the [http://www.alecexposed.org/ American Legislative Exchange Council] (ALEC) scored another victory this week. On Tuesday, the Wisconsin Senate voted along party lines to approve a bill that would prohibit local communities from issuing their own rules on plastic bags and other containers.
+This is part of an emerging national trend. Read the rest of this item [http://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/03/13060/barring-plastic-bag-bans-another-alec-bill-takes-aim-local-democracy here].
+----
+<h3>[http://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/03/13061/cmd-calls-alec-disclose-information-during-sunshine-week CMD Calls on ALEC to Disclose Information during Sunshine Week]</h3>
+In the spirit of national Sunshine Week, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) has written a letter to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and its state chairs (see [http://www.prwatch.org/files/alec_state_chairs.pdf list]) calling on them to live up to their own statements about the importance of transparency and release basic information about their legislative operations.
+"It's interesting that ALEC has touted the principles of public transparency for government accountability," said CMD executive director Lisa Graves. "Now we'd like to see ALEC apply those principles to their own legislative activities and interactions between ALEC legislators and ALEC corporations that undermine accountability." Read the rest of this item [http://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/03/13061/cmd-calls-alec-disclose-information-during-sunshine-week here].
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 <h3>[http://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/03/13054/cashing-kids-172-alec-education-bills-2015 Cashing in on Kids: 172 ALEC Education Bills Push Privatization in 2015]</h3>
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 The Kochs also have a voice on ALEC's Education Task Force through multiple state-based think tanks of the State Policy Network, ALEC's sister organization. Read the rest of this item [http://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/03/13054/cashing-kids-172-alec-education-bills-2015 here].
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-<h3>[http://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/03/13055/koch-alec-right-work-power-play-exposed-illinois Koch-ALEC Right to Work Power Play Exposed in a Small Illinois Village]</h3>
-[http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20160222/business/160229677/ Four unions sued] the Village of Lincolnshire in federal court in Chicago. The unions representing engineers, construction workers, and carpenters filed suit on February 18, 2016, to have Lincolnshire's anti-union "right-to-work" ordinance declared invalid and prevent its enforcement.
-Two days after the federal lawsuit was filed, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 [http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lincolnshire/news/ct-lsr-right-to-work-tl-0303-20160223-story.html filed a related lawsuit]. Read the rest of this item [http://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/03/13055/koch-alec-right-work-power-play-exposed-illinois here].
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-<h3>[http://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/02/13049/bankruptcy-documents-indicate-arch-coal-funding-climate-denial-legal-group Bankruptcy Filing Shows Arch Coal Funding for Climate Denial Legal Group]</h3>
-The Energy & Environment Legal Institute (E&E Legal), a group best known for filing lawsuits seeking climate scientists' personal emails, has secretly received funding from Arch Coal, one of the largest coal producers in the United States. The funding is revealed in [https://cases.primeclerk.com/archcoal/Home-DownloadPDF?id1=Mjc3NzE5&id2=0 documents] recently filed as part of the Arch Coal bankruptcy proceedings which list the coal company's creditors. Read the rest of this item [http://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/02/13049/bankruptcy-documents-indicate-arch-coal-funding-climate-denial-legal-group here].
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