Which companies support alec

Kendi also noted that Education Week has counted 26 states that have acted to keep critical race theory out of schools and restrict the ways in which race can be addressed in schools, with nine implementing outright bans. Last month, reporters Tyler Kingkade, Brandy Zadrozny and Ben Collins of NBC News described the role of conservative organizations in stirring up public opinion against school boards and teachers on account of their alleged plans for teaching critical race theory to school children.

The reporters also described a coordinated, national-level disinformation strategy that supports local activists. In particular, they cite the example of senior Manhattan Institute fellow Christopher Rufo.

According to their reporting, last fall Rufo was instrumental in the decision to specifically mention critical race theory in a list of diversity training topics banned from federal agencies and contractors by executive order. That was just the beginning. Last week, the independent journalist Judd Legum fleshed out the picture of an organized strategy around the denigration of critical race theory.

Legum published a list of more than 20 high-profile conservative organizations, including ALEC, that have been aggressively promoting the critical race theory canard.

Each of these organizations has the power to influence public policy through their media and outreach operations, and each has received significant funding from an obscure, media-shy non-profit organization called the Thomas W. Smith Foundation. Many leading corporate citizens ramped up their support for Black institutions, stepped up their internal diversity training and hiring programs , and participated in get-out-the-vote initiatives last year, as the Black Lives Matter movement surged in the wake of the George Floyd murder.

Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations.

ALEC Workshop. Louis Post-Dispatch , April 24, The organization boasts 2, legislative members and or more corporate members. Corporate and legislative governing boards also meet jointly each year. ALEC says only the legislators have a final say on all model bills. ALEC has previously said that "The policies are debated and voted on by all members. Public and private members vote separately on policy.

It is important to note that laws are not passed, debated or adopted during this process and therefor no lobbying takes place. That process is done at the state legislature.

Due to the questionable nature of this partnership with corporations, legislators rarely discuss the origins of the model legislation they bring home.

NCSL has zero corporate members. It is funded largely by state government appropriations and conference fees; it has a truly bipartisan governance structure, and there is a large role for nonpartisan professional staff; it does not vote on or promote model legislation; meetings are public and so are any agreed upon documents.

Corporations do sponsor receptions at NCSL events through a separate foundation. The statement, published on August 19, provides a new definition for the purpose of a corporation. At the meeting, held in Austin, Texas from August 14 to 16, lobbyists and legislators drafted and voted on model bills that the legislators will bring back to their states and introduce in their upcoming legislative sessions.

One proposal developed in a closed-door session takes aim at the Green New Deal, a resolution put forth by Rep.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez D-N. Ed Markey D-Mass.