TAGG Forum: Copycat Legislation December 3, 2019

Presentations by:

Phil Lopes served in the AZ State House of Representatives from 2003 to 2011. Four of those years he was Leader of House Democrats. He established the Tucson chapter of Progressive Democrats of America, served as Vice Chair of the AZ Democratic Party, and is a Precinct Committeeman in LD3. Phil worked in the health sector in for more than 25 years. He came to Tucson in 1969 to help start Pima Community College. He is a former faculty member at the University Of Arizona College Of Medicine, Assistant Director of the Rural Health Office, and is a founding faculty member of the UA College of Public Health. Phil was among the first 27 people invited to be a Peace Corps Volunteer in 1961. He served in Colombia. He was the Director of Peace Corps in Ecuador and Brazil in the late 70s.

Domingo DeGrazia is an attorney in civil practice. Formerly known for parental rights cases, his focus is increasingly centered on consumer data privacy. He is the youngest son of the artist Ted DeGrazia and currently is a Democratic Legislator in the AZ House of Representatives.

Hank Stephenson is the editor of Yellow Sheet Report, an insider political tip-sheet covering Arizona politics. He’s a three-time winner of the Arizona Newspaper Association’s Story of the Year award. In 2016, he won the Arizona Press Club’s Journalist of the Year award, along with the organization’s Sledgehammer award for his work fighting for public records.

(more info on back) Who and What are ALEC and ACCE?

According to the website for the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, the organization is “America’s largest nonpartisan, voluntary membership organization of state legislators dedicated to the principles of limited government, free markets and federalism.”

According to people who have studied and exposed their inner workings, ALEC is a corporation-driven bill-mill that wines and dines (almost exclusively Republican) legislators in order to promote “model bills” that further both right-wing and corporate interests & weaken regulations. “These copycat bills amount to the largest, unreported special interest campaign, driving agendas in every statehouse & touching nearly every area of public policy.” AZ Republic

ALEC’s influence traces back to the 70’s, when their efforts focused on anti-abortion, anti-busing, religious freedom and anti-LGBTQ policies, but has expanded to include the infamous “Stand Your Ground” laws, voter ID laws and other limits on voter access, Arizona’s SB 1070 (adopted by ALEC as a model bill for other states to adopt), anti- union projects, limits on access to solar energy and deregulation of the electricity industry, and the repeal of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

USA Today; “many of the bills” had unremarkable titles like ‘Uniform Minimum Wage’ that was actually a ban on raising the minimum wage or using terms like ‘rescission’ or ‘congruity’ to shield companies from lawsuits or repeal business regulations.

Together with its local-government-focused arm, ACCE-The American City County Exchange, ALEC thwarts voters & manipulates policy outcomes at the local, state, and federal level with $10.3 million in revenues; $8.9 million from donations and grants* (*2016 nonprofit tax form).

Further reading: www.alecexposed.org www.sourcewatch.org https://www.hrc.org/press/far-right-organization-has-long-anti-gay-history https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/us/alec-a-tax-exempt-group-mixes-legislators-and-lobbyists.html State Capture: How Conservative Activists, Big Businesses, and Wealthy Donors Reshaped the American States -- and the Nation, Alex Hertel-Fernandez, 2019, Oxford University Press

Who Supports? Who funds? ALEC/ACCE

The list is long and it includes: Goldwater Institute, Center for Arizona Policy-Cathi Herrod, Heartland Institute, Alliance Defending Freedom, National Right to Work Committee, Faith2Action, Koch Bros, Americans for Prosperity  Exxon pumped more than $1.7 million into ALEC over a 17 yr period, part of an industry plan to use ALEC to sow uncertainty about climate science, to promote Keystone Pipeline and more. * (CMD-Center for Media and Democracy)  SPN-State Policy Network main policy objectives: Defund and defang unions, promote fossil fuels, privatize education and hide identities of political donors. SPN is a web of right-wing think tanks & advocacy groups that are called upon to provide the academic legitimacy for right- wing policies in the states. o Who attends/supports SPN? Koch Companies Public Sector, AFP, the Center for the Study of Economic Liberty at Arizona State University, Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Reason Foundation, Cato Institute, Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University, Charles Koch Institute, i360, Institute for Humane Studies, and Stand Together, Project Veritas & more….including: Catholic Education Partners, Family Policy Alliance, Florida Family Policy Council, NC Family Policy Council, Pennsylvania Family Institute, and the Family Foundation…one last addition (and we could go on); James Bopp, the lawyer behind Citizens United who has led the fight against campaign finance reform and disclosure, his presentation was how to win ballot initiatives. What Legislation has been proposed and What Laws have been put into effect directly due to ALEC members? Over 200 ALEC bills were introduced into the AZ Legislature and over 55 were signed into law. We tried for 3 weeks to get the list of these bills to no avail. The reporters from AZ Republic who participated in exemplary reporting on ALEC told us that because they did not print the list, we were not allowed to see the list!

https://www.azcentral.com/pages/interactives/asbestos-sharia-law-model-bills-lobbyists-special-interests- influence-state-laws/

Public Integrity has a bill tracker https://web.model-legislation.apps.fivetwentyseven.com/latest

ALEC Model Policies page: https://www.alec.org/model-policy/?alec_search_term=&alec_post_type%5B%5D=model- policy&alec_year=&alec_p2p%5B%5D=&alec_meta%5B%5D=eyJrZXkiOiJfYWxlY19tb2RlbF9wb2xpY3lfdHlwZSIsInZhbHVlIjoiTW9kZWwgUG9saWN5In0%3D&alec_meta %5B%5D=&alec_term%5B%5D=&in_page_search=1 Examples of adopted legislation include the following.

 A ban on municipal regulation of short-term rentals, which has had unintended consequences on the availability of long-term housing in Phoenix and on housing prices and conditions in cities like Sedona.  Efforts to increase the costs of residential solar energy  Efforts to siphon funds from Arizona’s public schools

What organizations to support that directly counter ALEC repugnant actions: In AZ: Outlaw Dirty Money, Kochs Off Campus, Save Our Schools

Nationwide:

 The Center for Media and Democracy’s PR Watch: Since CMD first exposed ALEC in 2011, more than 100 corporations have dropped ALEC, incl: Verizon, Ford, Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart, General Electric, and Google.  New tool created by Center for Public Integrity to help find ‘copycat’ legislation:  https://model-legislation.apps.publicintegrity.org/  Documented Investigations  Local Solutions Support Center Arizona Legislators with ALEC Ties Information obtained from: https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Arizona_ALEC_Politicians ALEC does not disclose their membership. Lists have been comprised due to investigative reporting. The link above also lists Legislators who have cut ties with ALEC but, there aren’t any from AZ who have done so. U.S. House of Representatives Rep. (R), Board of Directors, State Chair

House of Representatives . Rep. John Allen, Majority Leader (R-15) 2019 Arizona State Chair . Rep. (R-15), Health and Human Services Task Force, Attended 2019 Meeting . Rep. (R-05), attended 2019 Annual Meeting . Rep. (R-20), attended 2019 Annual Meeting . Rep. Russel Bowers (R-25), Received a $10,000 scholarship from Reynolds to attend 2018 ALEC Annual Meeting . Rep. Noel Campbell (R-01), attended 2018 ALEC Annual Meeting, Attended 2019 Meeting . Rep. (R-5), attended 2018 ALEC annual meeting registered for 2019 Alec Annual Meeting . Rep. David Cook (R-08)[ . Rep. (R-13), attended 2019 Annual Meeting . Rep. (R-16), attended 2019 Annual Meeting . Rep. (R-11) registered for 2019 Annual Meeting . Rep. (R-12) . Rep. (R-14); Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force, Attended 2019 Meeting . Rep. John Kavanagh (R-23); attended 2018 ALEC Annual Meeting. registered for 2019 annual meeting . Rep. Anthony T. Kern (R-20) . Rep. Jay Lawrence (R-23) . Rep. David Livingston (R-22) . Rep. (R-14) . Rep. (R-21) . Rep. (R-11), attended 2019 Annual Meeting . Rep. (R-21), attended 2018 ALEC annual meeting, registered for 2019 annual meeting . Rep. T.J. Shope (R-08), attended 2019 Annual Meeting . Rep. (R-6), received ALEC "scholarship" funds in 2012 and 2013, spotted at ALEC fundraising dinner in March 2014 registered for 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting . Rep. (R-22) Attended 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting . Rep. (R-16) Registered for 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting . Rep. (R-17), Registered for 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting, registered member Senate . Sen. Sylvia Tenney Allen (R-6), Registered for 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting registered member . Sen. Paul Boyer (R-20) . Sen. (R-1)Registered for 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting . Sen. (R-22); Civil Justice Task Force . Sen. David Gowan (R-14), attended 2019 Annual Meeting . Sen. Rick Gray Majority Leader (R-21), formely member of the Arizona House (R-21), Majority Whip; Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force . Sen. Sine Kerr (R-13), attended 2019 Annual Meeting . Sen. Vince Leach (R-11) Registered for 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting . Sen. David Livingston (R-22) . Sen. Javan "J.D." Mesnard (R-17) Staff attended 2019 Annual ALEC Meeting . Sen. (R-23) Attended 2019 Annual meeting . Sen. Steve M. Smith (R-23), Registered for 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting, Public Safety and Elections Task Force (won election for House District 11 in November 2012) . Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita (R-23), Registered for 2019 ALEC Annual Meeting, attended 2018 ALEC Annual Meeting . Sen. Steven B. Yarbrough (R-21); Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force Office of the Governor Gov. (R), attended 2019 Annual Meeting Arizona State Treasurer (R); Previously served on Health and Human Services Task Force Justice Clint Bolick, attended 2019 Annual Meeting Office of the Courts Jerry Landau, Government Affairs Director, "ALEC Government/Legislative Staff" Phoenix City Council Councilman Sal DiCiccio (District 6) Buckeye City Council Councilman Patrick HagEstad, City Council District 4, "ACCE Elected Official Non-Member"