Reply #365: NH Who's behind those crazy bills-secretive conservative nat grp holds sway in (New Hampshire) Aug 6 [View All]

Here are three areas in which the New Hampshire Legislature was impacted by ALEC this session:

Photo ID
ALEC is convinced that voter fraud, not lack of public support, is the reason its policies have gone down to defeat again and again. To ensure outcomes its members prefer, ALEC has made the passage of Photo ID laws a priority in all 50 states. This is directly targeted toward citizens ALEC would like to see disenfranchised: seniors, students and the marginalized of all sorts.

Education
(break) ALEC has its own lingo. When it says "choice," it means unregulated private and charter schools. When it refers to "scholarships," it's really referring to vouchers from the public purse. The Brookings Institute has said, "Taken seriously, choice is not a system-preserving reform. It is a revolutionary reform that introduces a new system of public education." Whether this revolutionary reform is what the American public truly wants is open to question.

Right to work
(break) The New Hampshire right-to-work bill is based on ALEC model legislation with help from the National Right To Work committee in Virginia, and distributed to state legislators. It is a one-size-fits all bill that is being promoted nationwide to ALEC member legislators. Vetoed by Gov. John Lynch, this is a special favorite of House Speaker William O'Brien, who is using every legislative trick in the book to make New Hampshire the 24th right-to-work state and the only such state in the Northeast.