Profiting from Public Dollars: ALEC?s Privatization Agenda

A new briefing on ALEC from In the Public Interest:

The American Legislative Exchange Council has been a major force in pushing for the privatization of public services and assets. They actively promote privatization that allows corporate takeover of public functions. This agenda is evident in ALEC’s model bills. ALEC works with its corporate members to draft model bills that state legislators can introduce and push in their states. Many of these bills create incentives to privatize services and call for the increased use of private financing and control of public infrastructure projects. The bills also have the potential to generate lucrative sources of revenue for ALEC’s corporate sponsors. For example, ALEC 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 private corporations, and help other industries take control of public services. As a result, we stand to lose control of critical public services and assets and we risk a weakened democracy.

This backgrounder brief explores ALEC’s privatization agenda in a variety of sectors with a particular focus on what its corporate members stand to gain from increased privatization. It also provides summary highlights from In The Public Interest’s forthcoming report, “Profiting from Public Dollars: How ALEC and its members promote privatization of government services and assets.”

Check out the whole thing.