Corporations funded effort to pass Shoot first/Castle Doctrine bill in Minnesota
As protests occur in Washington DC, Minnesota, and other places around the country around the “justifiable homicide” of Trayvon Martin, new information is coming to light about how this legislation spread from Florida to Minnesota. Continue Reading →
The constitutional amendment (HF 2974) that Majority Leader Matt Dean introduced today was written by corporate lobbyists from the health care industry and powerful pharmaceutical interests to protect their profits margins. Documents reviewed by Common Cause indicate the American Legislative Exchange Council task force passed model legislation called the Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act in December of 2008.
ALEC legislation designed to pad corporations’ bottom line at the expense of consumers
Today, Governor Dayton vetoed four bills that were written by corporate lobbyists to pad the bottom line of the insurance industry (SF 429, SF 373, SF 149, SF 530). A report by Common Cause Minnesota released two weeks ago highlighted how these and 60 other bills were written by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a front group for corporate lobbyists.
Today, Common Cause Minnesota released an 80 page report detailing how corporate lobbyists are drafting Minnesota state laws behind closed doors. Led by some of the largest corporations in America, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has quietly drafted legislation that is designed to directly benefit the bottom line of its corporate members — corporations like Coca-Cola, Koch Industries, United States Smokeless Tobacco Company and Comcast.
Common Cause has spent the last several months comparing bills introduced in Minnesota to the over 800 model ALEC bills that were released by a whistleblower to The Center for Media and Democracy in August. In that review, Common Cause has identified at least thirty Minnesota legislators that are members of this secret organization. Over the last two sessions, those legislators introduced over 60 pieces of legislation that were drafted by corporate lobbyists, not legislators.
Read the complete report.
