ALEC Agenda: Medicaid, Schools, and Exporting Our Gas
ALEC holds its 41st annual meeting in Dallas, Texas starting on Wednesday, July 30, 2014. At this largest of its three annual national conferences, state legislators from across the country will meet with corporate and special interest lobbyists behind closed doors to vote on “model” legislation to change state laws. Numerous agenda items are reviewed below. ALEC’s 40th annual meeting in Chicago was met by over a thousand protesters. Local groups in Texas held an educational event on Saturday, July 26, and are planning protest activities for Wednesday, July 30. This year, ALEC has a new executive director, Lisa Britton Nelson, who is a former lobbyist for Visa and AOL Time Warner — both of which have had ties to ALEC — and also worked with Newt Gingrich and GOPAC. Several new companies also recently joined its “Private Enterprise Advisory Council”: NetChoice, the National Federation of Independent Business, and K12 Inc.