Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Secretive copycat legislative campaigns are surging in statehouses: report

"Each year, state lawmakers across the U.S. introduce thousands of bills dreamed up and written by corporations, industry groups and think tanks. Disguised as the work of lawmakers, these so-called 'model' bills get copied in one state Capitol after another, quietly advancing the agenda of the people who write them."

So begins an important story out today and prompting crucial questions about the limitations of open government and the state of public ethics in statehouses nationwide. It's the result of two years of collaboration among USA Today, the Arizona Republic and the Center for Public Integrity.


For special interests, writing so-called model legislation and offering it to friendly legislators to introduce as their own can be a highly effective means of conducting an advocacy campaign with minimal cost and even less public exposure. To good government advocates, it's a sneaky way to subvert campaign finance and lobbying disclosure rules.

"This work proves what many people have suspected, which is just how much of the democratic process has been outsourced to special interests," said Lisa Graves, co-director of Documented, which probes corporate manipulation of public policy. "It is both astonishing and disappointing to see how widespread ... it is. Good lord, it's an amazing thing to see."

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

The newspapers' reporting turned up more than 10,000 bills introduced in state legislatures in the past eight years that were almost entirely copied from model legislation written by advocates; more than 2,100 of them became law. The CPI, a non-profit investigative news operation, conducted a separate analysis that found thousands of bills with identical phrases and then traced the origins of the legislative language back to outside groups.

Most of the copycat measures pushed causes of businesses and social conservatives in many states at once – making it tougher for injured consumers to file liability lawsuits, for poor people to get food stamps, for cities to restrict short-term rentals, for nursing home patients to press complaints and for women to obtain abortions, for example. But others were pushed by progressives, including curbs on protests from the right and new taxes on sugary drinks.

Several of the most successful copycat campaigns were the work of the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, which specializes in bills to deregulate industries and limit litigation. Its model Asbestos Transparency Act, which aims to make it harder for people damaged by the cancer-causing chemical to win damages, has been introduced in at least 32 states since 2012 and has become law in a dozen of them.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has called ALEC "the most effective organization" at spreading conservatism and federalism in the statehouses.

But not all the copycat bills were promulgated by moneyed interests. One successful campaign the reporters found boosted the strength of several states' sex offender registries and another made it easier for members of the military to vote.

Read More

Business professional watching stocks go down.
Getty Images, Bartolome Ozonas

The White House Is Booming, the Boardroom Is Panicking

The Confidence Collapse

Consumer confidence is plummeting—and that was before the latest Wall Street selloffs.

Keep ReadingShow less
Drain—More Than Fight—Authoritarianism and Censorship
Getty Images, Mykyta Ivanov

Drain—More Than Fight—Authoritarianism and Censorship

The current approaches to proactively counteracting authoritarianism and censorship fall into two main categories, which we call “fighting” and “Constitution-defending.” While Constitution-defending in particular has some value, this article advocates for a third major method: draining interest in authoritarianism and censorship.

“Draining” refers to sapping interest in these extreme possibilities of authoritarianism and censorship. In practical terms, it comes from reducing an overblown sense of threat of fellow Americans across the political spectrum. When there is less to fear about each other, there is less desire for authoritarianism or censorship.

Keep ReadingShow less
"Vote" pin.
Getty Images, William Whitehurst

Most Americans’ Votes Don’t Matter in Deciding Elections

New research from the Unite America Institute confirms a stark reality: Most ballots cast in American elections don’t matter in deciding the outcome. In 2024, just 14% of eligible voters cast a meaningful vote that actually influenced the outcome of a U.S. House race. For state house races, on average across all 50 states, just 13% cast meaningful votes.

“Too many Americans have no real say in their democracy,” said Unite America Executive Director Nick Troiano. “Every voter deserves a ballot that not only counts, but that truly matters. We should demand better than ‘elections in name only.’”

Keep ReadingShow less
Hands outside of bars.
Getty Images, stevanovicigor

Double Standard: Investing in Animal Redemption While Ignoring Human Rehabilitation

America and countries abroad have mastered the art of taming wild animals—training the most vicious killers, honing killer instincts, and even domesticating animals born for the hunt. Wild animals in this country receive extensive resources to facilitate their reintegration into society.

Americans spent more than $150 billion on their pets in 2024, with an estimated spending projection of $200 million by 2030. Millions of dollars are poured into shelters, rehabilitation programs, and veterinary care, as shown by industry statistics on animal welfare spending. Television ads and commercials plead for their adoption. Stray animal hotlines operate 24/7, ensuring immediate rescue services. Pet parks, relief stations in airports, and pageant shows showcase animals as celebrities.

Keep ReadingShow less