Category Archives: ALEC

Georgia Senate Hears “Campus Carry” Gun Bill

campus carry

(APN) ATLANTA — HB 859, Campus Carry, sponsored by State Rep. Rick Jasperse (R-Jasper), passed the House on February 23, 2016, and had its first Senate Judiciary hearing on Wednesday March 02.   HB 859 is yet another model legislative bill pushed by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), along with the National Rifle Association (NRA) and local gun groups […]

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Several House Democrats Seek Assault Weapons Ban in Georgia

assault weapons

(APN) ATLANTA — The Assault Weapons Ban Bill, HB 731, has been introduced in the State House, and is co-sponsored by State Reps. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur), Rep. Stacey Abrams (D-Atlanta), Rep. Carolyn Hugley (D-Columbus), Rep. Pat Gardner (D-Atlanta), Rep. Dar’shun Kendrick (D-Lithonia), and Rep. Dee Dawkins-Haigler (D-Lithonia).   http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/154275.pdf   The bill prohibits the sale, distribution, transport possession, and […]

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Activists Host Panel on “Georgia Gulag”

gulag

(APN) ATLANTA — On Saturday, December 05, 2015, the Campaign to End the New Jim Crow hosted a program at the Little 5 Points Community Center called, “Georgia Gulag: It’s Up to Us to Stop It.”   In Georgia, there are eighty prisons, 22 youth detention facilities, five immigrant detention facilities, and 193 jails, plus probation centers.   “Mass incarceration […]

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Common Cause Files IRS Tax Fraud Claim against ALEC

ALEC

(APN) ATLANTA — The national organization Common Cause has filed a whistleblower Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax fraud claim against the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).   They are charging ALEC with falsely claiming to be a tax-exempt non-profit organization, to subsidize its lobbying and model legislation to benefit corporate interests.   The first complaint was filed against ALEC in […]

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Moral Monday Takes on ALEC and Koch Brothers

  (APN) ATLANTA — On Monday, April 21, 2014, hundreds gathered across from the State Capitol to follow the money trail from the Gold Dome to the Atlanta offices of the rich and powerful Koch brothers at the Georgia Pacific building.      Koch Industries, along with other large corporations, financially supports the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) that actually […]

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Moral Monday Movement Seeks Repeal of Stand Your Ground Law in Georgia

(APN) ATLANTA — Today, February 03, 2014, the Moral Monday Georgia movement once again stood on the steps of the Georgia State Capitol, this time to repeal Georgia’s Stand Your Ground (SYG) law.        Florida’s Stand Your Ground law–which is similar to the one in Georgia–made national headlines in 2013, after George Zimmerman was acquitted of the murder […]

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Parent Trigger Bill May Come up Again in Legislature This Year (UPDATE 1)

(APN) ATLANTA — House Bill 123, the Parent Teacher Empowerment Act, commonly known as the Parent Trigger bill, care of State Rep. Ed Lindsey (R-Atlanta) and others, is rearing its ugly head again, this time for a possible State Senate vote.       Having passed the House last year, in a vote of 97 to 74, but dying an […]

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PSC Again Hikes Georgia Power Rates, Declines on Solar Tax

(APN) ATLANTA — The Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) voted unanimously Tuesday, December 17, 2013, to approve a compromise agreement between Georgia Power and the PSC staff.       As previously reported by Atlanta Progressive News, Georgia Power’s original request was for a rate increase of 1.46 billion dollars.  The original request also included a newly proposed “solar tax,” […]

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(IPS) ALEC-Backed Laws Promote Controversial Charter Schools

This article first appeared on the Inter-Press Service website at: http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/02/alec-backed-laws-promote-controversial-charter-schools/   ATLANTA, Georgia, Feb 27 2013 (IPS) – The right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and private education management firms are pushing for new “parent trigger” laws in states across the U.S. by lobbying many Republican and some Democratic legislators to make it easier to convert more traditional public […]

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(IPS) Citizens Challenge Corporate Ties to ALEC, Heartland Institute

This article first appeared on the Inter-Press Service website at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107894. ATLANTA, Georgia, May 23, 2012 (IPS) – A coalition of advocacy groups is targeting corporate support for the right-wing Heartland Institute after the organisation took out a controversial billboard in Chicago comparing people who believe in global warming to a serial killer and mass murderer. On Tuesday, the group […]

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SB 469 Would Make Civil Disobedience a Felony in Georgia

(APN) ATLANTA — SB 469, an anti-union and anti-protest bill, would turn nonviolent civil disobedience into a felony punishable by imprisonment for one year and a fine of ten thousand dollars for organizations and one thousand dollars for individuals.   It also has provisions intended to weaken unions. The bill was introduced by State Reps. Don Balfour (R-Snellville), Bill Hamrick (R-Carrollton), […]

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Governor Deal Poised to Sign Divisive Immigration Bill in Georgia

(APN) ATLANTA — Governor Nathan Deal is poised to sign the controversial racial profiling immigration bill, HB 87, into law.  He has until May 24, 2011, to sign or veto the bill before it automatically becomes law, that is, forty days since it was passed by the legislature. Deal is in a bit of a bind because Georgia Republicans are […]

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Prison Firms, Suspected Hate Group behind Georgia’s Immigrant Bills

  (APN) ATLANTA — Private prison firms and right-wing hate groups have supported, lobbied for, and–either directly or indirectly–helped to craft several bills pending in the Georgia legislature this Session, including HB 87, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011. “Corrections Corporation of America (CCA)- we know they have lobbyists here,” Larry Pellegrini, a long-time activist and lobbyist […]

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