July 1, 1995policy changestate legislationvoting rightscorporate governanceenvironmental regulationstate governmentcorporate powerlegislative process
ALEC model legislation reaches peak influence in statehouses
The American Legislative Exchange Council, founded in 1973 by Paul Weyrich, reached peak influence during the 1990s and 2000s when its model legislation was enacted in roughly 1,000 bills annually across state legislatures. ALEC brought together state legislators and corporate lobbyists to draft model bills in areas including tort reform, voter identification laws, stand-your-ground statutes, and environmental deregulation. Legislators could introduce ALEC-drafted bills verbatim without public disclosure of the corporate authorship.