An Embattled ALEC, Buoyed by Election Results, Lays Blueprint for 2015

[Scuba]

http://www.prwatch.org/news/2014/11/12666/alec-buoyed-election-results-lays-blueprint-2015

ALEC has long pushed bills like the “Living Wage Preemption Act" to block city, county, or local governments from enacting progressive economic initiatives like a higher minimum wage. In light of the renewed grassroots push for fair wage laws, this bill to crush a local government's ability to increase wages in their community will likely be a top ALEC priority in 2015. (ALEC legislators have also been active in banning local paid sick day efforts, passing 10 laws after Wisconsin's paid sick days preemption bill was shared at ALEC's August 2011 meeting).

...

The ACCE meeting will also feature a presentation titled "Local Right to Work: Protect my Paycheck." ALEC has long pushed anti-union "Right to Work" laws, which allow non-union members to free-ride on union representation, reaping the benefits of union negotiations for wages and benefits but without paying the costs. Michigan's right to work law, for example, was a word-for-word copy of ALEC's model legislation and sponsored by ALEC members. With ACCE, ALEC is now trying to promote this anti-union legislation at the local level.

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The ALEC Health and Human Service Task Force will discuss the "Medicaid Anti-Crowd-Out Act," which would prohibit people from enrolling in Medicaid if their employer offers some form of insurance, regardless of how poor the person might be or how much the plan costs.

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ALEC's "Public Charter School Act" is a revamp of a 2007 ALEC bill, and it goes far beyond the predecessor in its attempts to greatly expand school privatization in a state, preempt democratic oversight, and sneak in a parent trigger mechanism. Although ALEC's agenda does not list the bill's sponsor, the proposed model closely tracks one promoted by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. The bill would eliminate caps on the growth of charter schools in the state, exempt those charters from many state laws, and exempt the charters from existing collective bargaining agreements between a district and its employees. The bill explicitly provides for these schools to be managed by “for-profit” education management organizations -- and since there are no other sources of revenue than what the school district pays, the profit must be “carved out” from the money intended for students. Notably, the bill also sneaks in a "parent trigger" mechanism, which allows for paid petition drives and a snapshot of parent opinion to shut down public schools and reinstate them as charters. Additionally, the bill puts charter authorizing authority in the hands of unaccountable state-wide authorizers, and expands the list of authorizers, taking authorizing authority away from elected local school boards. As one ALEC member told an ALEC education subcommittee earlier this year, "we need to stamp out local control."

More on these and other draconian ALEC policies at the link.

[Zorra]

1. If I say what I really want to about ALEC here, I will be banned from DU

and possibly arrested.

So I'll just say that ALEC is a group of deadly, sociopathic fascists that is a threat to you, me, our kids, democracy, and all life in the universe.

[Scuba]

2. Excellent summation.

[Man from Pickens]

3. ALEC is a bribery ring

It's organized crime, and arguably a form of sedition.