American Legislative Exchange Council

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The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) describes itself as the largest “membership association of state legislators,” but over 98% of its revenue comes from sources other than legislative dues, primarily from corporations and corporate foundations.[1] After the 2010 congressional midterm elections, ALEC boasted that “among those who won their elections, three of the four former state legislators newly-elected to the U.S. Senate are ALEC Alumni and 27 of the 42 former state legislators newly-elected to the U.S. House are ALEC Alumni.” (A full list of the Congressional freshmen who are ALEC alums can be found here.) [2]

ALEC’s agenda extends into almost all areas of law. Its bills undermine environmental regulations and deny climate change; support school privatization; undercut health care reform; defund unions and limit their political influence; restrain legislatures’ abilities to raise revenue through taxes; mandate strict election laws that disenfranchise voters; increase incarceration to benefit the private prison industry, among many other issues. [3]

ALEC is an "associate" member of the State Policy Network, a web of right-wing “think tanks” in every state across the country.[4]

About ALEC
ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our ExposedbyCMD.org site.
Koch Wiki

Charles Koch is the right-wing billionaire owner of Koch Industries. As one of the richest people in the world, he is a key funder of the right-wing infrastructure, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the State Policy Network (SPN). In SourceWatch, key articles on Charles Koch and his late brother David include: Koch Brothers, Americans for Prosperity, Stand Together Chamber of Commerce, Stand Together, Koch Family Foundations, Koch Universities, and I360.

Key Resources on ALEC

Sign from the 2011 Wisconsin protests

News and Controversies

Partnership with TPUSA to Promote Conservative Student Regents at Academic Institutions

In December 2020, ALEC partnered with Turning Point USA, planning to increase the appointments of conservative student regents. ALEC called for TPUSA's assistance in recruiting and vetting “ideologically sound” regents candidates as well as providing “legislative recommendations, committee testimony, & grassroots support to secure legislative action.”[5]

Colton L. Buckley, TPUSA's Director of Student Regent & Trustee Engagement, said during the training that increasing conservative student regent appointments could "save our institutions and bring them back from the brink of lunacy and socialism". Also during the training, ALEC’s development manager Giovanni Triana said ALEC’s board had developed a pilot "mentorship/partnership program" with TPUSA’s board and student leaders, which it hoped to expand to all the group's members in 2021.[5]

ALEC Funding

An in-depth discussion of ALEC funding by corporations and corporate foundations and ALEC’s spending is available here

Full List of ALEC Funders, 1981

The embedded document below provides a look at early funders to ALEC. The full list of ALEC funders that year was attached to email to Phillip Morris USA's Mike Mike Irish from ALEC's Executive Director Kathleen Teague.

Ties to the Bradley Foundation

Through 2016 ALEC received $2,340,500 from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.[6]

Bradley detailed the most recent grants in internal documents examined by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). Below is a description of the grant prepared by CMD. The quoted text was written by Bradley staff.

2016: $250,000 to support a comprehensive communications infrastructure to help ALEC respond to the citizen campaigning that resulted in over a hundred corporations cutting ties with ALEC in recent years. In addition to continuing to fund the activities described below in 2015, Bradley will be funding ALEC’s work on communications with CrowdSkout. “CrowdSkout allows ALEC to collect virtually all data points and contacts across every one of its websites and every social media interaction, however minimal, for analysis and potential future usage. The larger plan also has an important component for aggressive opposition research, which has yielded many beneficial outcomes—including to Strassel for her helpful book, among others.”

2015: $350,000 to create a comprehensive communications infrastructure and to support the Center for State Fiscal Reform (CSFR). ALEC’s “beefed up” communications infrastructure would “redesign its website,” “deploy social media,” and “create more dynamic website and social media content.” This is a response to the “aggressive” left who attacked ALEC for its “effectiveness” with legislators. “Bradley helped create CSFR to better equip ALEC to fill a void in information and analysis for state legislators on a crucial set of policy issues. The Center for State Fiscal Reform provides state policymakers and groups across the country with fiscal analysis and research helpful in confronting current economic challenges, improving their state’s economic outlook, and stimulating job creation. Led by economist Jonathan Williams, the Center annually releases the publication Rich States, Poor States.”

2014: $100,000 grant in support of the work of its Center for State Fiscal Reform. In 2014, the Center undertook expanded research and more publications, for example, it launched its first edition of “The State Tax Cut Roundup.” In 2015 the Center studied the relationship between state taxes and capital income, capital gains, dividends and estates, and charitable giving. Bradley notes that a case in New Jersey would be studied, looking at their “millionaires’ tax” to see if that tax decreases charitable giving.

2013: $100,000 to support the Center for State Fiscal Reform. In 2014 ALEC’s Center for State Fiscal Reform built on research developed for Rich States, Poor States. The research agenda covered the following topics: “state solutions for government pension reform; a tax cronyism project and an updated state budget reform toolkit.”

Bradley Files

In 2017, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), publishers of SourceWatch, launched a series of articles on the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, exposing the inner-workings of one of America's largest right-wing foundations. 56,000 previously undisclosed documents laid bare the Bradley Foundation's highly politicized agenda. CMD detailed Bradley's efforts to map and measure right wing infrastructure nationwide, including by dismantling and defunding unions to impact state elections; bankrolling discredited spin doctor Richard Berman and his many front groups; and more.

Find the series here at ExposedbyCMD.org.

ALEC History

An in-depth discussion of ALEC history is forthcoming and will be linked to here. Until then...

Founding

ALEC was "founded in 1973 by Henry Hyde, Lou Barnett, and...Paul Weyrich"[7].

Its articles of incorporation[8], were signed by Donald L. Totten of Schaumberg IL, Donald Lukens of Middletown OH, and Louis Woody Jenkins of Baton Rouge LA.

Originally promised "no attempt to influence legislation"

Surprisingly, the nascent group's statement of purpose included this assurance: "No substantial part of the activities of the corporation shall be the carrying on of propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence legislation."[8]

Dec 1975 board

Beyond the 3 founders, the other board members listed in the Articles of Incorporation were:[8] John McCune, Alfred Dellibovi, James A. Mack, Diemer True, David Y. Copeland, Eva Scott, Robert Bales, Frank Henslee, Robert B. Monier, John O. Stull, and Calvin Rucker.

Changes in the 1980s

The National Journal recognized the rising prominence of ALEC in the New Right movement of the mid-1980s in a major feature article. The article noted its connections to the Heritage Foundation, including a shared Capitol Hill building. It also described the organization's political wing, the now defunct ALEC-PAC, which in 1984 targeted 84 legislative seats in states. Notably, the state backed conservative Democrats in some races, getting involved in states with either thin conservative or liberal majorities including Ohio, New Mexico, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Washington and Wisconsin.

Richard A. Viguerie, a leading new right conservative[9], spoke of ALEC in the context of the growing movement, saying that "leading conservatives [had] 'fairly recently' determined that the state-local level 'is the missing piece of the puzzle for us.'

Then executive director of ALEC Kathleen Teague Rothschild, reflecting the new thinking of conservative strategists, noted that "In Congress, you've got only one legislative body and they will either pass or kill your bill. In the states, if you're trying to get banking deregulation passed and you've lost in Kansas, Nebraska and Texas, it's not a total failure. You may well win in Arizona, California and New York that year. You've got 50 shots."

Teague also noted that a nationwide network present in every state could be effective in supporting amendments to the United States Constitution. "State legislatures must ratify constitutional amendments. If the cumulative efforts of the conservative PACs succeed in pressuring Congress to pass a school prayer or a balanced budget amendment", said Teague, "they'll have to get 38 states to pass those things. You have to have an active support network in the states when ratification time comes."

Corporations supporting ALEC in 1984 included the Edison Electric Institute, Procter & Gamble Co., Mary Kay Cosmetics Inc., Eli Lilly and Co., Hoffmann-LaRoche Inc., Adolph Coors Co. and ARCO. Teague described corporate interest in state legislative affairs as "rising so rapidly that 'I have more big corporations who want to see me, get involved and become members than we can practically cope with.'"

The chairman of ALEC's business policy board at the time was Donald Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld said that his interests in economics and government regulation, rather than social issues, led him to become involved with the organization.

Later years

Support for ALEC

Corporate Membership: Price Ranges and Options

Corporations pay between $7,000 and $25,000 a year for membership in ALEC. Corporate membership in one of the nine ALEC task forces (or subcommittees) has separate and additional fees:[10]

ALEC corporations can donate additional funds beyond these amounts.  According to ALEC’s by-laws, corporations also work with ALEC legislators who are its “state chairmen” to raise money from other corporations for “scholarships” for legislators to attend ALEC events.  

According to Dennis Bartlett, an ALEC task force head who is also the executive director of the American Bail Coalition, “the organization is supported by money from the corporate sector, and, by paying to be members, corporations are allowed the opportunity to sit down at the table and discuss the issues that they have an interest in.” [11]

Corporate Sponsorship of Annual Conferences

In addition to membership fees, corporations and industry groups are encouraged to sponsor different aspects of ALEC’s annual conferences and convenings. Materials obtained and reviewed by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) — which pertain to ALEC’s 2022 annual meeting — reveal the variety of opportunities for corporate sponsors interested in purchasing access to lawmakers at ALEC’s annual conferences.[12] Opportunities to buy access to lawmakers and shape legislative priorities “range from buying ‘special’ pre- and post-conference sessions for an unspecified price to hosting ice cream socials ($15,000) and the ‘Kids’ Congress’ ($25,000), which allows the sponsor to give t-shirts with their corporate logo to children of legislators in attendance.”[13] The sponsorship opportunities also include the opportunity for a corporate sponsor to design the content of a policy workshop and for an industry executive to deliver a mainstage presentation to ALEC conference attendees.

The full breakdown of 2022 sponsorship costs are below.[14]

Cost Level Event
$60,000 Chairman Opening Luncheon
$55,000 Chairman Luncheon
$50,000 Georgia Host Committee Welcome Reception Atlanta Level
$50,000 Chairman Breakfast
$50,000 Chairman Late Night Reception
$40,000 Vice Chairman Chairman's Reception
$35,000 Vice Chairman Workshops
$35,000 Vice Chairman Board Dinner
$35,000 Vice Chairman Leadership Reception
$25,000 Georgia Host Committee Welcome Reception Blue Ridge Level
$25,000 Vice Chairman Board Reception
$25,000 Vice Chairman 50th ALEC Annual Meeting Preview
$25,000 Vice Chairman Kids' Congress
$25,000 Vice Chairman Technology (Wi-Fi and App)
$25,000 Vice Chairman Iron Lady Reception
$25,000 Vice Chairman Hospitality Suite
$25,000 Vice Chairman Policy Dinners
$15,000 Director Annual Meeting Bags
$15,000 Director Lanyards
$15,000 Director Task Force Receptions
$15,000 Director Ice Cream Social
$10,000 Georgia Host Committee Welcome Reception Golden Isle Level
$10,000 Director Internet in Hotel Rooms
$5,000 Georgia Host Committee Welcome Reception Peach Tree Level
$5,000 Trustee Room Keys
$5,000 Trustee Refreshment Breaks


Other Support Options

Corporations can sponsor annual ALEC conferences, offer grants for specific projects, or just give ALEC money.  For example, in 2005 ExxonMobil spent $90,000 sponsoring the ALEC 2005 annual conference, gave $80,000 towards the “Energy Sustainability Project,” and an additional $71,500 for “general operating support.”[15] ExxonMobil or its foundation has given over $1.4 million to ALEC in the past decade or so, according to the Form 990s filed by the ExxonMobil Foundation and other corporate documents, compiled by the Greenpeace project "Exxon Secrets."[16]

Trade Associations and Foundations

Corporate trade groups and other non-profit groups also make donations to ALEC of undisclosed sums.  Examples include the NRA, the American Bail Association, and the American Petroleum Institute. There are also others listed here.

Additionally, ALEC has received millions from right-wing foundations created by corporate CEOs or their heirs over the years and which advance a corporate agenda through donations. Here are some of the foundations that are or have been donors to ALEC:

Membership

As of March 2019, ALEC claims its membership includes over 2,000 state legislators (“Public Sector Members”) and "nearly 300 corporate and private foundation members." (“Private Enterprise Members”). [25]

“Public Sector Members”

Elected legislators can join ALEC by paying a token fee of $50 a year. [26]

While the membership fee for legislators is nominal, some legislators have used taxpayer dollars to pay it. For example, in Wisconsin, open records requests revealed that 12 senators, all Republicans, had their ALEC membership dues paid by taxpayer funds.[27]

ALEC does not release the identities of its over legislative members.  Some legislators tout their role in ALEC while others take a lower profile with ALEC.  The Daily Kos blogger project, called Exposing ALEC, has been compiling a ALEC legislative member list, past and present, here.

ALEC’s legislative board, legislative task force co-chairs, and legislative state co-chairs are almost all from the same political party. The legislators on the Board of Directors, as of June 6, 2011, are all Republican (see here). Only one person out of a little more than 100 in these roles appears to be a Democrat, as of July 2011.

2020 Recruitment Letter

In a January 27, 2020 email to State Chairs, ALEC's Aaron Gillham, Will Davies and Hunter Hamberlin sent a model recruitment letter for state chairs to use in encouraging legislators to join ALEC. The three write in the email, "for the first month, we drafted a promotional letter which you can see attached. While you should free to modify as you wish, we wanted to provide a framework and an easy way to copy and paste a message to those whom you believe may be a good fit to join our organization." [28]

2018 Recruitment Letter

In 2018, ALEC State Chairs circulated a "template letter" after the November election as ALEC had lost a large amount of members. Bill Meierling, Executive Vice President at ALEC, strongly urged State Chairs to reach out to the incoming legislators to recruit new members and suggested using the letter (embedded to the right).[29]

ALEC Task Forces

ALEC model legislation is introduced in, and initially approved by, one of nine “task forces,” which are chaired by both elected officials and “private sector” corporate members. [30] ALEC corportions are often represented by their lobbyists on ALEC’s board or task forces, and their representatives discuss and vote on legislation with legislators.[31] For example, according to the American Association for Justice, in the area of “tort reform” legislation, “the nuts and bolts of . . . crafting legislation is done by large corporate defense firm Shook, Hardy & Bacon,” which has defended tobacco companies and other corporations against lawsuits.[32] The law firm’s partner, Victor Schwartz is a long-time co-chair of ALEC’s "civil justice" task force.  

The task forces as of July 2020 are: [33]

Former Task Forces

The ALEC corporate and politician boards of directors meet jointly annually at a meeting that constitutes the final say over the bills and other matters for the organization. (ALEC says corporations do not vote at that meeting.[34])

ALEC Bylaws

ALEC last updated its Bylaws on May 2, 2019. The Bylaws were obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy through a public records request.

Secrecy and Lobbying

Under ALEC’s published by-laws, legislators who are ALEC “state chairmen” have a “duty” to get the model bills introduced in their state legislatures.[35]  However, when ALEC legislation is introduced in state houses, it is under the name of the sponsoring legislator rather than ALEC itself, with no mention that the bill was pre-voted on by corporations through ALEC or even connecting the bill to ALEC.  The task forces obscure how “corporations [get] access and influence for which they'd otherwise be publicly scrutinized." [36]

NPR reported that "much about ALEC is private. It does not disclose how it spends it money or who gives it to them. ALEC rarely grants interviews. [Senior Director of Policy Michael] Bowman won't even say which legislators are members. Is it lobbying when private corporations pay money to sit in a room with state lawmakers to draft legislation that they then introduce back home? Bowman, a former lobbyist, says, "No, because we're not advocating any positions. We don't tell members to take these bills. We just expose best practices. All we're really doing is developing policies that are in model bill form." [37]  

The American Prospect quoted "someone familiar with the organization" of ALEC as saying, "The totality of what they do is lobby. It's a self-sustaining con game." ALEC, however, denied the charge. ALEC’s then spokesman Bob Adams (who now runs and is the only employee of the front group “League of American Voters” CHECK) insisted, "We don't lobby... We don't introduce legislation at the state level. We just don't do that."[38]

In 2009, however, reporters discovered that Shook, Hardy and Bacon attorneys Mark Behrens and Corey Schaecher traveled to North Dakota to speak with legislators and their staff about ALEC’s asbestos bill, called the “Innocent Successor Liability Act,” without registering as lobbyists. At least three days after Schaecher was known to have been lobbying legislators, the ALEC asbestos liability bill was introduce on January 15 as HB 1430.  The “North Decoder” blog revealed their lobbying activities on January 23, 2009; within hours, ALEC submitted letters of authorization permitting Behrens and Schaecher to lobby on their behalf, the same day the corporation most likely to benefit the legislation, Crown, Cork, and Seal, also registered the two as lobbyists. On January 27, Behrens testified before the North Dakota House Judiciary Committee in support of the legislation, and the following day, ALEC threw a party for legislators so they could “learn more about America’s premier legislative organization.” [39] According to the National Institute on Money in State Politics, this is the only instance in which ALEC has ever registered to lobby in any state. [40]  In its 2009 IRS Form 990, in response to the question “Did the organization participate in lobbying activities” (page 3 question 4), ALEC replied “no.” [41]

Conferences

ALEC holds three primary meetings each year: the “Spring Task Force Summit” meeting of ALEC Task Force members, the four-day “Annual Meeting” in the summer for all ALEC members, and the three-day “States and Nation Policy Summit” that “introduces the ALEC agenda to newly elected and freshman state legislators.” [42] [43] In the ALEC brochure advertising corporate membership, it describes these three gatherings as “meetings and networking opportunities.”

Defenders of Wildlife (DOW) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) pointed out in their 2002 report on ALEC that for legislators, one of the chief benefits of ALEC membership is the opportunity to take at least one subsidized or all-expenses-paid trip that looks a lot like a vacation.[44]

The conferences are held in cities across the country, often at high-end hotels. ALEC’s 2010 annual meeting, for example, was held in San Diego at the Manchester Grand Hyatt resort; the 2011 summer meeting is at a post New Orleans Marriott in the French Quarter.  Legislators are encouraged to bring their spouses and families, and can pay a $250 fee for their six-month old child or teen to participate in babysitting program called “Kids Congress.”  ALEC’s 2009 IRS Form 990 indicates over $250,000 was spent on childcare. [45]  

Unlike for the United States Congress, most state-level legislators in the nation are part-time, and many state legislatures meet for only part of the year. The average annual salary for state legislators is $45, 880, ranging from a low of $19,260 (in New Hampshire) to a high of $78,500 (in New York).[46]

In Wisconsin, where the Center for Media and Democracy is located, the total compensation for state legislators is $49,943.[47] According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, base compensation is $19,860 as of May, 2010. [48] Like many states, the Wisconsin Senate and Assembly are not in session year-round, and so many legislators supplement their state salary with other part-time earnings.[49]

For a Wisconsin legislator, the costs of attending an ALEC conference at a resort could be more than five percent of that legislator's state salary. Those expenses, though, are sometimes paid for with taxpayer dollars, or reimbursed by ALEC's corporate-funded coffers.

An examination of financial disclosure forms filed in 1999 and 2000, for example, showed that taxpayers footed the bill for at least $3 million each year in connection with legislators’ travel to ALEC-sponsored meetings.[50] According to NRDC, “that means each year a significant amount of taxpayer money is helping ALEC do its business, which is predominantly aimed at advancing corporate special interests.[51]

An untold number of state lawmakers accept “scholarships” from the corporate-funded ALEC, or in some cases, directly from corporate lobbyists.[52] Without that “scholarship,” attending an ALEC conference could be a vacation the legislator might not otherwise be able to afford.  Some states, especially in the South and West, have written explicit exceptions into state ethics laws to permit legislators to accept “scholarships” from ALEC.  NPR reported that looking at Arizona's legislators who attended the ALEC conference, no one declared receiving gifts. "Sen. Pearce and a dozen others wrote that they received a gift of $500 or more from ALEC. A review of the two dozen states now considering Arizona's immigration law shows many of those pushing similar legislation across the country are ALEC members. In fact, five of those legislators were in the hotel conference room with the Corrections Corporation of America the day the [immigration] model bill was written. The prison company didn't have to file a lobbying report or disclose any gifts to legislators. They don't even have to tell anyone they were there. All they have to do is pay their ALEC dues and show up."[53] ALEC’s website claims that in each legislative cycle, its members introduce around 1000 pieces of legislation based on ALEC bills, with roughly 18% enacted into law.

Core Finances

2022[54]

  • Total Revenue: $10,104,204
  • Total Expenses: $9,480,356
  • Net Assets: $7,040,193

2021[55]

  • Total Revenue: $9,832,106
  • Total Expenses: $8,596,965
  • Net Assets: $6,416,345

2020[56]

  • Total Revenue: $7,978,103
  • Total Expenses: $7,213,865
  • Net Assets: $5,181,204

2019[57]

  • Total Revenue: $9,187,421
  • Total Expenses: $9,160,748
  • Net Assets: $4,416,966

2018[58]

  • Total Revenue: $9,357,918
  • Total Expenses: $9,238,668
  • Net Assets: $4,390,293

2017[59]

  • Total Revenue: $10,352,239
  • Total Expenses: $10,237,195
  • Net Assets: $4,271,043

2016[60]

  • Total Revenue: $10,345,179
  • Total Expenses: $9,056,582
  • Net Assets: $4,155,999

2015[61]

  • Total Revenue: $8,984,128
  • Total Expenses: $8,376,348
  • Net Assets: $2,867,402

2014[62]

  • Total Revenue: $7,795,674
  • Total Expenses: $7,734,819
  • Net Assets: $2,259,622

2013[63]

  • Total Revenue: $7,322,531
  • Total Expenses: $8,510,952
  • Net Assets: $2,198,767

2012[64]

  • Total Revenue: $8,425,051
  • Total Expenses: $8,642,647
  • Net Assets: $3,387,188

Potential IRS Audit

As of the end of 2012, ALEC appeared to be anticipating an IRS audit, after multiple complaints challenging the "corporate bill mill's" charitable status, based on documents recently obtained by Bloomberg News.[65]

According to internal ALEC documents, the organization has discussed forming a nonprofit organized under Section 501(c)(4) of the tax code, apparently in anticipation of the IRS revoking ALEC's current "charitable" status. Charities (which are organized under Section 501(c)(3) of the tax code) as well as nonprofits are tax exempt, but ALEC's charitable status had allowed its corporate members to write-off their ALEC membership dues and costs as tax-deductible charitable contributions. ALEC Executive Director Ron Scheberle discussed forming a 501(c)(4) called "ALEC NOW" in an August memo, claiming that if a 501(c)(4) were "operating fully prior to an IRS audit," the agency might allow the newly-formed (c)(4) to continue operating and take over activities impermissible for a (c)(3) charity.[65]


2011

  • Gross Receipts: $9,218,069
  • Task Forces: $3,039,881 (Expenses) and $88,859 (Revenue)
  • Conferences: $1,788,553 (Expenses) and $1,251,954 (Revenue)
  • Membership Recruitment: $757,555 (Expenses) and $97,321 (Revenue)
  • Compensation of Current Officers, Directors, Trustees, and Key Employees: $322,259
  • Other Salaries and Wages: $1,651,974
  • Travel: $130,083

2010

  • Gross Receipts: $7,171,357
  • Task Forces: $2,125,791 (Expenses) and $30,954 (Revenue)
  • Conferences: $1,867,332 (Expenses) and $1,025,862 (Revenue)
  • Membership Recruitment: $474,504 (Expenses) and $84,883 (Revenue)
  • Compensation of Current Officers, Directors, Trustees, and Key Employees: $547,245
  • Other Salaries and Wages: $1,675,139
  • Travel: $258,769

2009

  • Gross Receipts: $6,271,633
  • Task Forces: $2,634,723 (Expenses) and $31,905 (Revenue)
  • Conferences: $2,026,119 (Expenses) and $844,448 (Revenue)
  • Membership Recruitment: $664,886 (Expenses) and $82,981 (Revenue)
  • Childcare: $251,873
  • Compensation of Current Officers, Directors, Trustees, and Key Employees: $312,842
  • Other Salaries and Wages: $1,755,460
  • Travel: $269,237

2008

  • Gross Receipts: $6,975,222
  • Task Forces: $2,977,527 (Expense) and $25,130 (Revenue)
  • Conferences: $2,204,173 (Expense) and $1,189,026 (Revenue)
  • Membership Recruitment: $717,090 (Expenses) and $93,387 (Revenue)
  • Compensation of Current Officers, Directors, Trustees, and Key Employees: $433,301
  • Other Salaries and Wages: $1,764,018
  • Legal: $32,868
  • Accounting: $88,367
  • Occupancy: $649,344

2007

  • Gross Receipts: $6,130,496
  • Officer Compensation: $397,837
  • Compensation of “Others”: $1,741,863
  • Print and Publications: $206,921
  • Travel: $403,921
  • Conferences, Conventions, and Meetings: $2,204,995
  • Task Forces: $2,459,483
  • Membership Recruitment: $732,565
  • Public Affairs: $311,670
  • Legal: $111,528
  • Accounting: $82,774
  • Consultant Fees: $395,684
  • Meals, Lodging and Entertainment: $1,605,780

Income-Producing Activities

  • Conference and Seminars: $950,075

Total: $1,672,623

Contact Information

American Legislative Exchange Council
2733 Crystal Drive, Suite 1000
Arlington, VA 22202
Phone: 703-373-0933
Fax: 703-373-0927
Website: https://www.alec.org
Email: atarnawski@alec.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALEC_states
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alec.states

Articles and Resources

IRS Form 990 Filings

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library ALEC Files

Box 1

Box 2

External Articles and Resources

References

  1. ↑ Lisa Graves (2011-07-13). A CMD Special Report on ALEC's Funding and Spending -. Center for Media and Democracy. Retrieved on 2011-08-10. “More than 98% of ALEC's cash is from sources other than legislative dues, such as corporations, trade associations, and corporate foundations. (links to ALEC 2009 IRS Form 990)”
  2. ↑ American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC Congratulates Alumni on their Election to Federal Office Nov. 6, 2010, accessed June 27, 2011.
  3. ↑ American Legislative Exchange Council [www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Model_Legislation1 Model Legislation], ALEC.org, accessed June 1, 2011
  4. ↑ State Policy Network, Directory, State Policy Network, 2016.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 David Armiak, "ALEC Working in Partnership with Turning Point USA, Major Player in Capitol Insurrection", Exposed by CMD, January 13, 2021, accessed January 14, 2021.
  6. ↑ Bradley Files, [on file with CMD], Bradley Files, 2017.
  7. ↑ {{cite web |publisher=Scholar as Citizen |title=Who’s Really Behind Recent Republican Legislation in Wisconsin and Elsewhere? (Hint: It Didn’t Start Here) - |url=http://scholarcitizen.williamcronon.net/2011/03/15/alec/ |accessdate=2011-08-09 |url=http://scholarcitizen.williamcronon.net/2011/03/15/alec/ |accessdate=2011-08-09 |author=William Cronon |date=2011-03-15
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 ALEC, ALEC Articles of Incorporation, ALEC December 8, 1975.
  9. ↑ The New Right: We're Ready to Lead, Richard A. Viguerie, Viguerie Co., 1981, ISBN ISBN 0-89526-608-3
  10. ↑ American Legislative Exchange Council Future ALEC Meetings Calendar, organization website, accessed June 9, 2011
  11. ↑ Right Wing Watch, American Legislative Exchange Profile, May 2011, accessed June 28, 2011.
  12. ↑ American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC 2022 Annual Meeting Sponsorship Packet, Accessed October 18, 2023.
  13. ↑ Juliana Broad, Lawmakers à la Carte: How ALEC Sells Access to State Legislators, ExposedbyCMD, October 18, 2023.
  14. ↑ American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC 2022 Annual Meeting Sponsorship Packet, Accessed October 18, 2023.
  15. ↑ ExxonMobil 2005 Worldwide Giving Report, available at http://research.greenpeaceusa.org/?a=view&d=4387
  16. ↑ Greenpeace ALEC - American Legislative Exchange Council, ExxonSecrets.org Factsheet, accessed June 6, 2011; see also, e.g., ExxonMobil Worldwide Giving, $56,000 in 2008, $47,500 in 2009, $64,000 in 2010.
  17. ↑ Media Transparency Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, online report, accessed June 6, 2011
  18. ↑ See, e.g., Media Transparency Allegheny Foundation, online report, accessed June 6, 2011
  19. ↑ Media Transparency Castle Rock Foundation, online report, accessed June 6, 2011
  20. ↑ Media Transparency Castle Rock Foundation: Grants, online report, accessed June 6, 2011
  21. ↑ JM Foundation Introduction and History, organization website, accessed June 6, 2011
  22. ↑ Media Transparency The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Inc., online report, accessed June 6, 2011
  23. ↑ Media Transparency The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation: Grants, online report, accessed June 6, 2011
  24. ↑ Media Transparency John M. Olin Foundation, online report, accessed June 6, 2011
  25. ↑ American Legislative Exchange Council Membership, organization brochure, accessed March 29, 2019.
  26. ↑ American Legislative Exchange Council Public Sector Membership Brochure, organization brochure, accessed June 8, 2011
  27. ↑ Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now One Wisconsin Now Exclusive: WI Senators Paying Corporate ALEC Membership with Tax Dollars, organization blog, May 8, 2011.
  28. ↑ ALEC State Chair emaiil, [on file at CMD], January 27, 2020.
  29. ↑ ALEC State Chair email, [on file at CMD], November 8, 2018.
  30. ↑ People For the American Way, ALEC: The Voice of Corporate Special Interests In State Legislatures, accessed July 12, 2011.
  31. ↑ See, e.g., Email correspondence between Greg Chesmore of Celgene Corporation and Wisconsin State Representative (and ALEC member) Leah Vukmir, September 24, 2009, available at http://www.scribd.com/doc/51654823/Writing-Alec-Legislation . (Celgene Corporation’s Chesmore writes “I met with Christie Herrera at the ALEC offices a few weeks ago to discuss a Model Resolution supporting umbilical cord blood and placenta-cord donation and banking and encouraging private entities to continue expanding access and research using the stem cells derived from these two sources . . . Celgene is actively engaged in research utilizing stem cells derived from cord blood and placenta-cord . . . I’d like to run a draft I’ve been working on past you and talk a little more about the resolution and the strategy behind it.”)
  32. ↑ American Association for Justice Ghostwriting the Law for Corporate America, May 2010, accessed July 12, 2011.
  33. ↑ American Legislative Exchange Council Website, Task Forces page, accessed March 13, 2018.
  34. ↑ Sabrina Easton, Conservative group denies it masterminded drive to restrict public employee unions, The Plain Dealer, April 3, 2011
  35. ↑ American Legislative Exchange Council, 2007 Form 990: Bylaws, filed with the IRS and received by Guidestar.org, revised July 2007, received September 20, 2008
  36. ↑ Nick Penniman, "Outing ALEC: The Most Powerful Lobby You've Never Heard Of," The American Prospect, Volume 13, Issue 12, July 1, 2002, p. 12
  37. ↑ Laura Sullivan Shaping State Laws With Little Scrutiny, NPR.org (web site of National Public Radio) October 29, 2010
  38. ↑ Nick Penniman, "Outing ALEC: The Most Powerful Lobby You've Never Heard Of," The American Prospect, Volume 13, Issue 12, July 1, 2002, p. 12
  39. ↑ Living Next Door to ALEC, North Decoder, January 30, 2009.
  40. ↑ National Institute on Money in State Politics, ALEC Lobbyist Client Results, accessed July 4, 2011.
  41. ↑ ALEC Lied on its 2009 Tax Return, Northdecoder.com, Mar 28, 2011, accessed July 7, 2011.
  42. ↑ American Legislative Exchange Council Future ALEC Meetings Calendar, organization website, accessed June 9, 2011
  43. ↑ American Legislative Exchange Council Future ALEC Meetings Calendar, organization website, accessed June 9, 2011
  44. ↑ Defenders of Wildlife and National Resources Defence Council, Corporate America's Trojan Horse in the States, accessed July 12, 2011.
  45. ↑ ALEC IRS Form 990, accessed through Guidestar.org
  46. ↑ Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department of Labor Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2010: 11-1031 Legislators, Occupational Employment and Wages report, May 2010
  47. ↑ Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau Salaries of State Elected Officials, Brief 08-13, January 2009, corrected May 2009
  48. ↑ Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2010: 11-1031 Legislators, Occupational Employment and Wages report, May 2010
  49. ↑ Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau Profile of the 2011 Wisconsin Legislature, Brief 11-2, January 3, 2011, p. 3
  50. ↑ Defenders of Wildlife and National Resources Defence Council, Corporate America's Trojan Horse in the States, accessed July 12, 2011.
  51. ↑ Defenders of Wildlife and National Resources Defence Council, Corporate America's Trojan Horse in the States, accessed July 12, 2011.
  52. ↑ Defenders of Wildlife and National Resources Defence Council, Corporate America's Trojan Horse in the States, accessed July 12, 2011.
  53. ↑ Laura Sullivan, Shaping State Laws With Little Scrutiny, October 29, 2010, accessed July 12, 2011.
  54. ↑ ALEC, 2022 IRS Form 990, Internal Revenue Service, November 8, 2023.
  55. ↑ ALEC, IRS Form 990, Internal Revenue Service, November 11, 2022.
  56. ↑ ALEC, 2020 IRS Form 990, Internal Revenue Service, November 8, 2021.
  57. ↑ ALEC, 2019 IRS Form 990, Internal Revenue Service, October 26, 2020.
  58. ↑ ALEC, 2018 IRS Form 990, Internal Revenue Service, November 7, 2019.
  59. ↑ ALEC, 2017 IRS Form 990, Internal Revenue Service, November 1, 2018.
  60. ↑ ALEC, [Paper copy on file at CMD 2016 IRS Form 990], Internal Revenue Service, November 9, 2017.
  61. ↑ ALEC, 2015 IRS Form 990, Internal Revenue Service, November 10, 2016.
  62. ↑ ALEC, 2014 IRS Form 990, Internal Revenue Service, September 18, 2015.
  63. ↑ ALEC, 2013 IRS Form 990, Internal Revenue Service, October 2, 2014.
  64. ↑ ALEC, 2012 IRS Form 990, Internal Revenue Service, October 30, 2013.
  65. ↑ 65.0 65.1 Jonathan Salant, ALEC Thought of Non-Profit — Then Thought Not, Bloomberg, Dec. 13, 2012
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