The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) will hold its annual convention in Salt Lake City, Utah from July 25-28th. Over 1,500 ALEC corporate lobbyists and member legislators will meet behind closed doors to vote on model bills and strategize about the implementation of pro-corporate legislation in statehouses around the country.

Utah-based and national good-government groups will release a report and host a community forum to discuss ALEC’s impact on Utah as the organization pushes its agenda of slashing and privatizing social services while providing tax cuts to big business. At least three dozen Utah legislators are members of ALEC, and several member corporations are located in Utah.

“At closely guarded retreats like this, ALEC brings together corporate lobbyists with state legislators from around the country who will enact their wish lists into law,” said Diallo Brooks of People For the American Way. “The model bills being pushed at these retreats benefit powerful corporate interests but leave working families, the nation’s infrastructure, public education and the environment in the dust.

“The American people have suffered from ALEC’s far-reaching influence in the state, and the organization has largely escaped scrutiny in Utah – until now. As a result of the ongoing effort to expose the ALEC agenda, Utahns and Americans around the country are standing up against the extreme policies that put corporate bottom lines above the needs of Americans and their families.”

###