What major corporations and lawmakers don't want you to know about ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council!

The influence of ALEC is clear in bills filed in NC, and also many of NC's own representatives are members. In fact, NC House Speaker Thom Tillis won ALEC's 2011 "Legislator of the Year" award (as one of 8 winners). ALEC's members are mostly Republican. To give an idea of ALEC's influence - in Aug 2011, Tillis and 31 other House members were in New Orleans for ALEC's annual conference.

According to http://theunitedstatesofalec.org/files/2012/09/USofALEC_TalkingPoints.pdf,

"Founded almost 40 years ago, American Legislative Exchange Council brings together nearly 2,000 state legislators with hundreds of corporate leaders and lobbyists from many of the world’s most powerful corporations to secretly draft model legislation that is then introduced in our states, usually without our knowledge. Some of the corporations include: Koch Industries, Comcast, AT&T, BP, WellPoint, ExxonMobil, and Bank of America.

ALEC, founded by conservative movement icon Paul Weyrich, has worked in virtual secrecy to advance an extreme agenda that puts corporate profits ahead of the public interest and often public safety."

ALEC was 'outted' in 2012 when groups started researching the 'Stand Your Ground' laws that contributed to the killing of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin.