american legislative exchange council
April 3, 2014 -
North Carolina regulators have found highly toxic thallium seeping from coal ash pits at two Duke Energy plants. Rep. Mike Hager -- the state lawmaker who co-chairs the committee that will handle coal ash cleanup legislation and former engineering manager for one of the thallium-leaking plants -- doesn't think the discovery is cause for alarm. Is his perspective shaped by his Duke connections?
February 20, 2014 -
Duke Energy has long fought strict federal regulations on coal ash, which is in the spotlight again following a spill from one of the company's North Carolina plants. Duke got help from the American Legislative Exchange Council, the controversial corporate-interest advocacy group that has counted the utility among its members.
December 17, 2013 -
The Civitas Institute, a conservative think tank founded and bankrolled by N.C. budget director Art Pope, sought funding to portray the Medicaid program as "failed" and to urge funding cuts, according to leaked documents obtained by The Guardian. The effort comes as the McCrory administration wants to privatize management of the public health insurance program for the poor and disabled.
December 13, 2013 -
Corporate interest advocacy groups including the controversial American Legislative Exchange Council made repealing North Carolina's renewable energy law a top priority last year. Their effort failed, but now ALEC is trying a different approach by taking aim at the solar boom.
November 14, 2013 -
The State Policy Network -- a national alliance of right-wing think tanks funded by businessmen including the Kochs of Koch Industries, the Waltons of Wal-Mart, and Art Pope of Variety Stores -- is driving a corporate agenda in state legislatures. So why they aren't reporting their lobbying activities?
July 22, 2013 -
Challenging the stereotype of the happy-go-lucky Southerner, residents of North Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana and Georgia are taking to the streets and standing up to the right-wing corporate agenda.
July 15, 2013 -
Civil rights and gun safety leaders are calling for the repeal of what some decry as racially biased "shoot-first" laws, which are especially popular in the South. Some are putting renewed pressure on the corporate members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the business advocacy group that promoted such laws in the states.
