For years, corporations have joined the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) for the opportunity to develop legislation that diverts public dollars into their corporate coffers. A new report by In the Public Interest, “Profiting from Public Dollars: How ALEC and Its Members Promote Privatization of Government Services and Assets,” exposes ALEC’s extensive privatization agenda. The report details how private prison corporations, online education companies, health care corporations, and major industry players pay large membership fees to ALEC in exchange for valuable and unfettered access to state legislators. Corporations are able to work with ALEC lawmakers to craft bills that allow private control of public functions, and guarantee a steady stream of tax dollars to enhance profits.
Corporate and legislative ALEC members work together to jointly develop pro-privatization model bills, and then legislators introduce and push these bills in their state legislatures. These bills make it easier to create virtual public schools, encourage states to privatize vital health programs that help vulnerable populations, force state governments to sell public prisons to prison corporations, and help other industries take control of public assets and services.
In 2011 and 2012, ALEC model bills that sought to privatize core public functions were introduced in states across the country, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah. Many ALEC bills fail their first time, but examples of success expose their real goal: enhancing corporate pocketbooks with lucrative government contracts.
- Virtual Public Schools: The K-12 online learning industry is profitable – estimates predict that this market will grow by 43% between 2010 and 2015, with revenues expected to reach $24.4 billion. K12 Inc. and Connections Academy, companies that have both served as corporate chairs of ALEC’s education task force, used ALEC to move legislation authorizing virtual public schools. In 2011, HB 1030/SB 874, which is almost an exact copy of ALEC’s Virtual Public School Act, passed in Tennessee. Shortly after, K12 Inc. won a no-bid contract from Union County School District to create the Tennessee Virtual School Academy.
- Private Prisons: In 2011, Ohio passed HB 153, which contains similar provisions as ALEC’s Private Correctional Facilities Act. Specifically, HB 153 allows corporations to purchase state correctional facilities, which was one of the defining features of the ALEC model bill. Shortly after this bill passed, Ohio became the first state to actually sell a correctional facility to a private company. The Lake Erie Correctional Institution was sold to Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), a long-time corporate member of ALEC.
It’s evident that corporations use ALEC and its vast network of state lawmakers to push for privatization. By increasing the number of government functions that are contracted out, these corporations can grow their profits with taxpayer dollars. And the effects of this ALEC-sponsored legislation are clear – we stand to lose control over public services and assets and, ultimately, we risk a weakened democracy.
The new study underlines how corporations use ALEC to promote private interests and goals that trump the public interest. For a complete list of ALEC model legislation, please visit www.ALECexposed.org. To download a copy of In The Public Interest’s report, “Profiting from Public Dollars,” and learn more about ALEC’s privatization agenda in the past and what we can expect to see in upcoming legislative sessions, click here.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
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