REVEALED: You elected them to write new laws — they’re letting corporations do it instead
Each year, state lawmakers across the U.S. introduce thousands of bills dreamed up and written by corporations, industry groups and think tanks.
The investigation examined nearly 1 million bills in all 50 states and Congress using a computer algorithm developed to detect similarities in language. That search – powered by the equivalent of 150 computers that ran nonstop for months – compared known model legislation with bills introduced by lawmakers.
The investigation reveals that fill-in-the-blank bills have in some states supplanted the traditional approach of writing legislation from scratch. They have become so intertwined with the lawmaking process that the nation’s top sponsor of copycat legislation, a member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, claimed to have signed on to 72 such bills without knowing or questioning their origin.
•Industry groups have had extraordinary success pushing copycat bills that benefit themselves. More than 4,000 such measures were introduced during the period analyzed by USA TODAY/Arizona Republic. One that passed in Wisconsin limited pain-and-suffering compensation for injured nursing-home residents, restricting payouts to lost wages, which the elderly residents don’t have.
Sherri Greenberg, who spent 10 years in the Texas Legislature and is now the Max Sherman Chair in State and Local Government at the University of Texas at Austin, said bills used to spring from lawmakers’ experiences, constituents, or lobbyists representing long-established industries. Model legislation has flourished as gridlock in Congress forced special interest groups to look to the states to get things done, she said.
“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.” .chapter-header { font-family:Unify Serif;font-weight:bold;font-size:25px;color:#404040; } The Asbestos Transparency Act sounds like the kind of boring, good-government policy voters expect their representatives to hammer out on their behalf to safeguard public health.
“I can tell you for a fact that families don’t have time for all these hoops they want you to jump through,” said Chris Winokur, whose husband Bob was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2015 and died nine months later. “They’re trying to make it more difficult to sue.” Sonnenberg, the lawmaker who introduced it in Colorado, said he didn’t write the bill and relied on “my experts” to explain it during a February 2017 hearing.
Behrens said the Asbestos Transparency Act seeks to hold wrongdoers accountable, while exonerating innocent companies paying for harm they didn’t cause. “It would be wise,” he said, “for someone with a better understanding of these types of issues to carry the bill in the future.” Many of the bills USA TODAY found were copied from models written by special interests were couched in unremarkable or technical language that obscured their impact. Bans on raising the local minimum wage were dubbed"uniform minimum wage" laws. Changes to civil court rules to shield companies from lawsuits were described as"congruity” or reforms to make laws consistent. Repealing business regulations was disguised under the term"rescission." .
They dealt with cities’ ability to take action against blighted properties, prohibitions on businesses banning guns in employees' vehicles, and a call for the U.S. president to be elected by popular vote, among many others. USA TODAY provided Murt with a list of all 72 bills, 13 of which became law, and asked questions about his support for them. He was the primary sponsor of only one: a ban on smoking in workplaces written by the liberal State Innovation Exchange.
In Michigan, Republican state Sen. Joe Haveman said he worked with a lobbyist from a Lansing law firm to draft his state’s version of the law aimed at shielding Crown Cork & Seal from asbestos liability stemming from a corporate merger in the 1960s. The law firm, Clark Hill, has donated $1,800 to his campaigns since 2012, according to state records. .statehouse-cta-container { color:#fff;background-color:#404040;border:4px solid #009bff;margin:30px 0;padding:30px;width:100%;} .
It’s not just legislators circulating copycat bills. In Pennsylvania, the nonpartisan service that drafts all bills for the state Assembly – the Legislative Reference Bureau – frequently copies directly from model legislation, said director Vincent DeLiberato. But the legislator ultimately decides whether to use it, he said.
USA TODAY’s algorithm found the same model was introduced in 13 states, becoming law in Arizona and North Carolina. A similar version passed in Colorado. This arrangement is particularly appealing to new lawmakers, said Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, an assistant professor at Columbia University who has studied the influence of ALEC and other conservative groups. His research showed less-experienced lawmakers are more likely to use copycat legislation.
“What ALEC does is more than provide the model bills: They provide relationships. They approach you when you are first elected and build these enduring social connections with you at recurring events that happen every year,” he said. “You really need that social connection in addition to the model-bill resources that you’re getting, the research help.” .
Right to Try illustrates another finding of USA TODAY’s investigation: Some copycat bills amount to little more than marketing and posturing, with organizations behind them highlighting a perceived problem and then offering a solution with little or no measurable impact. Through the FDA’s compassionate-use program, about 1,000 patients a year have gained access to non-approved drugs in recent years. The FDA approves more than 90 percent of those requests, often within days and, in emergencies, sometimes more quickly.
Riches said Goldwater crafts legislation it sees a need for in Arizona, where it's based. It then considers the “exportability” of its model legislation to other states, he said. “They wouldn’t be doing it if they weren’t making a buck,” said Robert McCaw, government relations director for CAIR.Minnesota state Rep. Steve Drazkowski, who co-sponsored similar legislation in 2016, said some people fear Sharia law will be applied in the U.S., but he does not.
“The use of these model bills is not the end of the world,” he said, noting that immigrants are more successful when they learn English. “The idea that one organization or group is somehow controlling legislation or legislators or states, that’s a fallacy.” .
None of those bills, however, guaranteed Edwards’ sons and others with disabilities could keep their vouchers as more students were added. She didn’t know it at the time, but lawmakers were drawing their ideas from model legislation. "When you are talking about a big idea, a new idea, usually the best way of approaching it is to wade into it and demonstrate it can work on a smaller level and then grow it from there,” Riches said.
One model pushed by ALEC and the Goldwater Institute prohibits local jurisdictions from creating occupational licensing requirements. It reflects conservatives’ and libertarians’ belief that job licensing stifles competition and hurts the economy, and should only be required when it involves health and safety.
"There's real ... hypocrisy in many of these so-called conservative legislators trying to rip away local control when they preached for years that a government that's closest to you ... is most responsive to you," said Dawn Penich-Thacker, who campaigned to overturn Arizona's school-voucher expansion with a public vote.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
You elected them to write new laws. They’re letting corporations do it instead.You vote for one thing. Special interest groups get lawmakers to do the opposite. A two-year USA TODAY Network investigation found more than 10,000 instances of cookie-cutter model bills introduced across all 50 states.
Read more »
They’re over 60, selling marijuana — and say it’s ‘pretty damn cool’The number of boomers consuming legal cannabis rose 25% in 2018
Read more »
'They’re petrified of her': Trump mocks Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New DealPresident Donald Trump mocked freshmen Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez during an event with Republican lawmakers on Tuesday night.
Read more »
This fascinating new tool lets you map the cheapest flights to anywhere from any cityNot sure where you want to vacation? Check out this new tool for figuring it out:
Read more »
Opinion | It’s been six months since Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, and Trump has done nothingWhite House officials have issued critical words and slaps on the wrist but have stopped short of imposing meaningful penalties.
Read more »
Southern Poverty Law Center names new interim president and CEOThe embattled Southern Poverty Law Center has named Karen Baynes-Dunning as interim president and CEO, the civil rights organization announced Tuesday.
Read more »
A New Anti-LGBTQ Death By Stoning Law In Brunei Has Sparked A Celebrity Boycott WorldwideCelebs Are Boycotting Top Hotels Owned By The Sultan Of Brunei, Following The Country's New Anti-LGBTQ Death By Stoning Laws
Read more »