skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Report Details: “ALEC” Corporate Influence in Writing NH Laws

play audio
Play

Thursday, November 15, 2012   

CONCORD, N.H. - Concerned citizens, lawmakers and New Hampshire advocacy groups have released a new report that focuses on big-business efforts to influence new laws in the state.

The corporate lobbying group ALEC – the American Legislative Exchange Council – has been throwing its weight behind a variety of issues ranging from “right-to-work” to school vouchers and controversial voter-ID laws, says Diana Lacey, president of Local 1984 of the State Employees Association.

"The right-to-work legislation was a pretty serious example of it. It was very obvious because when we had votes on legislative debate over it, the only people in the room that were advocating for it were paid out-of-state lobbyists."

ALEC says it stands for limited government and free markets, but the new report says ALEC's work amounts to corporations writing legislation. The report is a joint effort by Granite State Progress, the Center for Media and Democracy, People for the American Way Foundation, and Common Cause.

Zandra Rice-Hawkins, executive director of Granite State Progress, says her group has been active in exposing the influence exerted by ALEC, and some big-name corporations have taken notice.

"We've started to see several corporate entities drop their membership: Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Kraft. We're encouraging more corporations to do that."

Lacey believes voters showed their outrage over corporate influence at the ballot box last week.

"The corporate interests that are sponsors through ALEC legislation, we've rejected at the voting booth; and it's pretty clear that we want to return to a government where we're focused on the best possible outcomes for families."

The joint report, "Who is Writing New Hampshire's Laws? A Summary of ALEC Corporate Influence in New Hampshire, 2011-2012," is available on the Granite State Progress website, granitestateprogress.org.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …


Organizations fighting wage theft said it harms affected workers and surrounding communities because the money withheld is not being circulated through the local economy. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

Environment

play sound

A farm group is helping Iowa agriculture producers find ways to reduce the amount of nitrogen they use on their crops. Excess nitrates can wind up …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021