ALEC Applauds Congressional Approval of Spectrum Auctions to Promote Broadband

Washington, D.C. (February 17, 2012) — Today the chairmen of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Communications and Technology Task Force expressed support for Congressional passage of legislation that authorizes the Federal Communications Commission to conduct incentive auctions to free up wireless spectrum to promote wireless broadband.

Blair Thoreson, a North Dakota State Representative and Public Sector Chairman of the Task Force, said, “Today, Congress has taken a long-overdue action that will greatly benefit the nation. Incentive auctions to repurpose spectrum for wireless broadband will help create new investment opportunities and job growth, as well as foster innovation and get broadband into the hands of more people.”

Bartlett Cleland, Policy Counsel for the Institute for Policy Innovation and Private Sector Chairman of the Task Force added, “The explosive growth in the use of wireless devices has underscored the need for more spectrum for broadband soon. With Congress’ action today, the government has finally cut through the red tape to meet consumers’ demands for high-speed mobile broadband. ”

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ALEC is the nation’s largest nonpartisan, individual membership organization of state legislations who share a common commitment to the Jeffersonian principles of individual liberty, limited government, and free markets. Visit http://www.alec.org/ for more information.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (February 16, 2012) – The Georgia Special Council on Criminal Justice Reform has produced a set of policy recommendations which align with ALEC model policies that improve public safety, increase offender accountability and control corrections spending for the state. Key elements of the recommendations align with a framework of policy that was the product of a Corrections and Reentry Working Group at ALEC tasked with producing better public safety outcomes at a lower cost.

At the invitation of ALEC Georgia State Chairs, Senator Chip Rogers and Representative Calvin Hill, Georgia legislators gathered to discuss the proposed recommendations to the state’s criminal justice system. Judge Michael Boggs of the Georgia Court of Appeals moderated a dynamic panel of policymakers who have been essential to reform efforts in Georgia and nationally.

Key policy leaders within Georgia voiced their support for the Council’s recommendations. Representative Jay Neal and Senator Bill Cowsert discussed the recommendations and fielded questions from attendees.  Representative Jerry Madden of Texas, the ALEC Public Safety Task Force Public Sector Chair and a national leader of criminal justice reform, gave the perspective of a state that has already passed comprehensive reforms. Representative Madden discussed how the reforms he spearheaded in 2005 enabled Texas to reduce its crime rate by 10 percent and save approximately $2 billion on prison costs.

ALEC supports reforms that protect communities at a lower cost by reducing recidivism through strengthened community supervision programs, by improving government efficiency through data collection and performance measurement, and by concentrating prison space on violent and career criminals to contain corrections costs.

In 2011 alone, states such as Arkansas, Ohio, North Carolina and Kentucky, enacted reforms that employ evidence-based practices to provide for offender rehabilitation and accountability, protect the community and increase victim restitution.

ALEC’s Public Safety and Elections Task Force is committed to providing solutions that apply accountability, limited government, private enterprise and fiscal and personal responsibility to criminal justice problems.

ALEC Amicus Brief: ObamaCare’s Individual Mandate Fails to Account for State Interests and Displaces State Policy Choices

Washington, D.C. (February 14, 2012) – The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) filed an amicus curiae (or “friend of the court”) brief with the U.S. Supreme Court Monday arguing that the minimum coverage provision, or individual mandate, in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is unconstitutional.  The brief was filed on behalf of ALEC’s members in the 50 states in the landmark case Department of Health and Human Services v. State of Florida and National Federation of Independent Business.  ALEC’s Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act provided, in part, the legal standing for several of the plaintiff states to pursue this action.

“ALEC comprises one-third of all legislators nationwide, so we’re in a unique position to fight this one-size-fits-all mandate that displaces the diverse array of state-based health reform efforts,” said Wisconsin State Senator Leah Vukmir, public sector chair for ALEC’s Health and Human Services Task Force. “We urge the Supreme Court to respect state sovereignty in health care by striking down this unconstitutional law.”

ALEC’s brief includes three main arguments:

Argument 1: Upholding the mandate would grant Congress a plenary police power, which exceeds Congress’s authority under the Commerce Clause.

ALEC focuses on the federalism implications of the government’s expansive theory of the Commerce Clause, which transgresses longstanding limits on Congress’s legislative authority and divests the states of their traditional role as policy innovators. The Constitution reserves to the states, and denies to the federal government, a police power. Public health and welfare is a core component of state sovereignty.

ALEC’s brief states, “Even eighty years after the Court first adopted its current broad reading of the Commerce Clause, it is telling indeed that Congress has never before seen fit—even when confronted with a World War, the Cold War, the Great Depression, recessions, oil shocks, farm crises, the savings and loan crisis, and myriad other disruptions great and small—to seek to regulate abstaining from economic activity under its Commerce power.  And it is particularly troubling in light of this Court’s expressed discomfort with extending application of the Clause beyond ‘economic activity.’”

Argument 2: The mandate fails to account for state interests, which exceeds Congress’s authority under the Necessary and Proper Clause.   

As recently affirmed in United States v. Comstock (2010), Congress’s authority can be sustained under the Necessary and Proper Clause only if (among other factors) it “properly accounts for state interests.” In its brief, ALEC contends that, unlike the civil commitment statute at issue in Comstock, “ACA’s individual mandate gives States no discretion to exempt their citizens and provide an alternate State scheme. Nor do the states retain discretion to oust the federal Government from any ‘appropriate role’ the States would ordinarily have discretion to perform.” Fourteen states have enacted laws expressly guaranteeing their citizens the freedom to choose not to purchase health insurance.

Argument 3: Upholding the individual mandate would displace state policy choices and stifle the states’ constitutional role as laboratories of democracy.

The ACA’s homogenizing federal approach will disrupt or displace market-based, cost-effective solutions that ALEC and its member legislators have long advocated in pursuing health care reform at the state and local level.

ALEC’s brief asserts, “By imposing a uniform federal mandate, the ACA not only displaces promising initiatives before they have had adequate opportunity to prove their value, but also forestalls other States from learning from, adapting, and improving upon policies with a demonstrated record of success,” and that “the importance of the State interests at stake here counsels caution, not haste, before Congress may determine that State efforts are fruitless and force a uniform federal program on unwilling States that are still experimenting with their own solutions.”

ALEC believes that the Supreme Court should affirm the judgment of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in this case.  ALEC submitted one of the 50 amicus curiae briefs to the 11th Circuit; and its brief was one of two cited by the majority in striking down the individual mandate.

To obtain a complete copy of ALEC’s brief to the Supreme Court, visit www.alec.org/SCOTUS-brief. For a map of states that have passed ALEC’s Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act or have introduced this legislation, visit www.alec.org/initiatives/health-care-freedom-initiative.

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The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is the nation’s largest nonpartisan individual membership association of state legislators, with over 2,000 state legislators across the nation and more than 100 alumni members in Congress. ALEC’s mission is to promote free markets, limited government, individual liberty, and federalism.

 ALEC Urges President and Federal Government to Consult with States on Energy Resources and Public Lands

Washington, DC—(February 1, 2012): The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is sending a strong message to the federal government in regards to management of lands and energy resources within state borders.

In his State of the Union address, President Obama said, “Over the last three years we’ve opened millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration…” Unfortunately, compared to 10 years ago, oil and natural gas production on federal lands is down by more than 40 percent. Also, over the past few years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has developed and finalized numerous overreaching and inefficient air and water rules that will dramatically increase energy costs, negatively impact jobs and the economy, irreparably damage the competitiveness of U.S. businesses and trample on state sovereignty in the process.

“Every year the federal government further erodes state sovereignty by handing down decisions on the use of energy on public lands,” said Wyoming State Sen. Bebout, a member of ALEC’s International and Federal Relations Task Force. “It’s time to restore the states’ co-equal status with the federal government as written in the Constitution.”

The lack of cooperation and the recent onslaught of EPA regulations violating states’ rights is in direct opposition to a recently passed ALEC resolution requesting that the federal government “confer and consult” with states on public lands and energy resources. This resolution, reflecting the sentiment of ALEC’s more than 2000 state legislative members from across the country, was approved earlier this month by the ALEC Legislative Board of Directors.

ALEC’s resolution titled Resolution Requesting that the Federal Government Confer and Consult with the States on Management of Public Lands and Energy Resources, recognizes that state governments have an inherent interest in how the federal government manages public land and energy resources. Therefore, state governments should be included in the formation and execution of any significant policy impacting these resources.

“The stakes are high and states like Texas who depend on public trust lands demand a seat at the table when decisions are made,” said Texas State Rep. Tom Craddick, ALEC’s former national chairman.

Recently, 33 current and former governors and lieutenant governors, 27 groups of state and local officials, 13 state legislative bodies, and ten state agencies across the country have opposed the escalating EPA expansion into states. The groups of state and local officials comprise of thousands of state legislators, utility commissioners, agricultural department officials, foresters, drinking water administrators, fish and wildlife agencies, solid waste management officials, state wetland managers, mayors, counties, and cities.

States that have already actively voiced opposition to federal government overreach include Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

ALEC further calls on Congress and the Administration to “commit to greater consultation with the states and to recognize cost-benefit and job-impact analyses must be addressed in order to understand how federal regulations impact states and their respective citizens.”

ALEC policies, resolutions and model bills are approved by our legislative members and are the result of nonpartisan research and analysis.

For more information on ALEC’s work on the impact and significance of federal regulations on the states, refer to ALEC’s publication EPA’s Regulatory Trainwreck: Strategies for State Legislators available at: www.regulatorytrainwreck.com.

For more information about ALEC’s work on state sovereignty visit: www.alec.org/initiatives/restore-the-balance

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The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is the nation’s largest nonpartisan individual membership association of state legislators, with more than 2,000 state legislators across the nation and 100 alumni members in Congress. ALEC’s mission is to promote free markets, individual liberty, and federalism.

ALEC’s report card uses empirical data to establish the case for more school choice, empowering parents to have a greater impact on their children’s education, and holding teachers accountable. To view the Report Card on American Education and a full list of ALEC’s reports, visit www.alec.org/reportcard or www.alec.org.

Members of the media interested in covering the Report Card on American Education should contact Kaitlyn Buss at kbuss@alec.org.

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 ALEC is a non-profit, nonpartisan association of over 2,000 state legislators that works to promote principles of free markets, limited government and federalism throughout the states.

By Jasen Lee, Deseret News

Published: Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 4:00 p.m. MST

SALT LAKE CITY — For the fourth straight year, Utah ranks no. 1 for economic outlook among all 50 states, according to a new report.

The Beehive state topped the economic outlook category and also ranked 14th in economic performance. Both ratings indicate Utah has developed a solid plan for economic growth, said study co-author Jonathan Williams.

“For years, Utah has gotten things right when it comes to tax policy, regulation and labor policy,” Williams said.

He cited Utah’s recent decision to lower income tax rates to a flat 5 percent for business and individuals as an example. Having a favorable tax policy will help the state remain competitive, particularly as it vies with neighboring states in the economic development arena.

Williams also said that the state’s recently enacted employee pension reform legislation will serve as a model to other states around the country as they try to mitigate long-term budget challenges.

The American Legislative Exchange Council compiled data comparing each state as part of its publication titled, “Rich States, Poor States: 2011 ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index.”

“In this last fall, Rhode Island lawmakers followed … the Utah blueprint to enact pension reform in that state,” Williams said. “It’s more about financial reality than anything else.”

Utah also finished among the top states in several of 15 other subcategories, but was a mediocre 38th for its relatively high sales tax structure.

Overall, he said Utah has developed a viable business-friendly environment that should help the state maintain its high ranking for the foreseeable future.

“Utah has pro-business policies that span the gamut of tax regulation and labor policy that have a predictable future that makes investment in Utah very attractive for businesses,” Williams said.

Gov. Gary Herbert said the ranking validates the strategies employed by the state to bolster Utah’s economy.

“We have good principles where we live within our means, do not have excessive debt, have competitive tax rates and sensible business regulations that create this business-friendly environment,” Herbert said Thursday.

Link to article: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705397669/Utah-tops-national-economic-report.html

ALEC Disapproves of President Obama’s Decision on Keystone XL Pipeline

Washington, D.C. (January 18, 2011) — The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is disappointed in President Barack Obama’s decision today to deny the application for the Keystone XL Pipeline project. This decision is in direct opposition to ALEC’s Resolution in Support of the Keystone XL Pipeline, which was approved earlier this month by the ALEC Legislative Board of Directors.

“ALEC members understand that the Keystone XL project is vital to this nation’s energy security and is a much needed project that will bring jobs to the nation in a time of economic malaise,” said Todd Wynn, director of the Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force at ALEC.

If it had been approved, the Keystone XL Pipeline and its construction could have created 20,000 direct construction and manufacturing jobs and over 100,000 jobs indirectly. Although developers are able to reapply for a permit if the pipeline is rerouted, this will cause several more years of delay and subsequent continued economic stagnation, specifically at a time when Americans are in dire need of job creation.

“Keystone is about cost-effective, available energy to be sure, but it is also about reaffirming our partnership with Canada, our largest trading partner and an indispensable ally,” observed Representative Harold Brubaker (NC), Chair of the International and Federal Relations Task Force at ALEC.

ALEC’s resolution urges Congress to support continued and increased development and delivery of oil from Canada to the United States. ALEC believes the Keystone XL Pipeline project could “ensure America’s oil independence, improve our national security, reduce the cost of gasoline, create new jobs, and strengthen ties between the United States and Canada.”

ALEC’s resolution also notes that the United States currently depends on foreign imports for more than half of its petroleum usage and the nation’s dependence on overseas oil has created difficult geopolitical relationships with potentially damaging consequences for our national security.

The Keystone XL project is a proposed $7 billion, nearly 1,700-mile, 36-inch crude oil pipeline that will stretch from the oil sands in Alberta, Canada to the Gulf Coast and would deliver more than 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Canada, Montana, the Dakotas, Oklahoma and Texas to Gulf Coast refineries.

ALEC policies, resolutions and model bills are approved by our legislative members and are a result of nonpartisan research and analysis.

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The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is the nation’s largest nonpartisan individual membership association of state legislators, with over 2,000 state legislators across the nation and more than 100 alumni members in Congress. ALEC’s mission is to promote free markets, individual liberty, and federalism.