Each year, state lawmakers across the U.S. introduce thousands of
bills dreamed up and written by corporations, industry groups and think
tanks.
Disguised as the work of lawmakers, these so-called “model” bills
get copied in one state Capitol after another, quietly advancing the
agenda of the people who write them.
USA TODAY and the Republic found at least 10,000 bills
almost entirely copied from model legislation were introduced
nationwide in the past eight years, and more than 2,100 of those bills
were signed into law.
Model bills passed into law have made it harder for injured consumers
to sue corporations. They’ve called for taxes on sugar-laden drinks.
They’ve limited access to abortion and restricted the rights of
protesters.
In all, these copycat bills amount to the nation’s largest,
unreported special-interest campaign, driving agendas in every
statehouse and touching nearly every area of public policy...
“This work proves what many people have suspected, which is just how
much of the democratic process has been outsourced to special
interests,” said Lisa Graves, co-director of Documented, which probes
corporate manipulation of public policy. “It is both astonishing and
disappointing to see how widespread … it is. Good lord, it’s an amazing
thing to see.”..
“It’s not inherently bad, one way or the
other,” said Siler, who now works for a political action committee. “It
depends on the idea and the people pushing it. Definitely people use
model legislation to push bad ideas around.”
Allison Anderman, managing attorney
at the pro-gun-control Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said
model bills are simply how the system works now...
USA TODAY found more than 4,000 bills benefiting industry
were introduced nationwide during the eight years it reviewed. More than
80 of those bills limit the public’s ability to sue corporations,
including limiting class-action lawsuits, a plaintiff’s ability to offer
expert testimony, and cap punitive damages for corporate wrongdoing.
“No citizens are saying, ‘Hey, can you make
it harder to sue if … low-paid (nursing home) orderlies happened to kill
or injure my parents,’ ” Graves said. “That’s not a thing citizens are
clamoring for. But you know who is? The nursing home industry, and big
business in general.”
“This is how all laws are written,” she
said. “You’d be hard-pressed to find a law where a legislator sits in a
chamber until a light bulb goes off with a new policy.”
Much more information at
The Center for Public Integrity, via
Boing Boing.
It aggravated me that when NPR's All Things Considered reported this story, promising a talk with "someone who writes these laws," it was Anderman whom they interviewed, and she made a case for how model legislation helped pass good stuff like gun control laws. Though the reporter mentioned that the overwhelming number of model laws were written on behalf of corporate interests, the amount of time given to Anderman and her arguments in favor of the practice made the whole thing seem rather benign.
ReplyDeleteOf course it's possible Anderman was the only legislation-writer NPR could get to talk to them.
The laws regulating 5G is a primarily example of an industry (the telecoms), in a cozy relationship with a government agency (FCC), lobbyists, and federal and state legislators. They secure the money on top, accommodate the laws accordingly, and your local government wipe their hands and inform you that they are powerless to act on your behalf.
ReplyDeletehttps://publicintegrity.org/business/5g-wireless-pits-cities-against-telecoms-and-their-friends-in-the-fcc/