You elected them to write new laws. They’re letting corporations do it instead.

The Center for Public Integrity

April 4, 2019

The Center for Public Integrity, along with USA Today, reveal the findings of their two-year investigation into the influence of special interest groups on the legislative process, specifically how lawmakers write new laws. Their report shows how industry, or party affiliation, influences legislation across the country via “model bills” or “copycat bills”, which are rapidly duplicated across states and at least 20% of which were found to have been signed into law.

The article includes an informative chart showing which states are the biggest culprits. No surprise, NJ ranks very high on industry influence.

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.

Read the full article