ALEC is a conservative group that writes model legislation in the U.S., and hundreds of their bills have been enacted in different states. Many of them are harmful. But you have to admire the model in some ways because it’s working. It saves legislators research, it propagates the “best” policies and implementations from their view rather than relying on individuals to figure it out themselves, and (presumably) avoids some legal challenges by involving experts at the beginning.
Is there a progressive version? I’ve come across one example, SIX, which doesn’t quite seem to fit the description because they only keep a library of legislation from various states, they don’t write bills from scratch.
I got to thinking about this because while many of us support various ideas, it’s not always clear how to put them into action. Something like universal healthcare: are there ways states (or even municipalities or counties) could start to put this into action? I’m not an expert, and frankly most legislators aren’t either. But if we could bring together experts and create model legislation, that would be something we could rally around and demand from our elected officials. This applies to many issues like sustainability, public housing, free higher education, addressing food insecurity, universal basic income, better electoral systems.
I see. But that’s kinda the thing though. It’s not just the model legislation that makes ALEC effective. It’s when they couple that with the other activities that are unethical to bordering on illegal. For example, when ALEC got busted voting together with politicians on model bills behind closed doors. While not illegal, backroom dealing like that is super unethical.
But to bring things back to your original idea. I suppose we’re not just looking at model legislation, but also getting it in-front of politicians. While not engaging in the same nefarious activities ALEC has done.
You’re right, definitely don’t want to emulate the other negative aspects. You’re also right that we need organization to get in front of politicians.
In my limited experience, it’s much more effective to have a specific ask for politicians. “Vote yes/no on this bill” “cosponsor this bill.” Which is why it’s worth thinking about more efficient ways to generate legislation, and legislation which is effective. You can get some real half-assed, pandering to other constituencies type language if you ask state politicians who only half support your cause to write a bill.