Secure Arkansas

ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) politicians could be blocking Arkansans from the legislative process.  Are you aware that approximately 2,000 – 3,000 bills are generated EACH LEGISLATIVE SESSION in our Arkansas legislature?  An example of blocking the legislative process would be how ALEC has strategicly placed their Chair members as heads over certain committees which are definitely positions of influence.  For example, in the last legislative session, Senator Eddie Joe Williams was the Chair in Senate State Agencies, Senator Jane English (the Republican who made a deal with Governor Beebe regarding the Private Option) was the Vice-Chair in Senate State Agencies, and Representative Andrea Lea was the Chair in House State Agencies.  ALL of them are ALEC members.  Representative Lea and Senator Williams are both ALEC STATE CHAIR MEMBERS covering both sides of the Arkansas General Assembly.  Would they be in the position to greatly influence our state legislation?  They could override anything that comes through their committees at any time.

Unfortunately, ALEC isn’t the only group we need to watch.  Some others are National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), Council of State Governments (CSG), Southern States Energy Board (SSEG), and Southern Legislative Conference (SLC), which is a subgroup of the ultra-dangerous and Constitution-destroying Council of State Governments.

Take a look at some members of the Southern branch of the Council of State Governments:

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MARK NORRIS

CHAIR
THE COUNCIL OF STATE GOVERNMENTS

Tennessee

 

SENATOR KEITH M. INGRAM

CHAIR (SOUTHERN LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE)

Arkansas

 

Senator Bill Sample, Arkansas
Chair, SLC Economic Development, Transportation & Cultural Affairs Committee, 2013-14

 

Representative Denny Altes, Arkansas
Chair, SLC Energy & Environment Committee, 2013-14

If you’re concerned about our energy or Smart Meters, gas meters, or electric meters, contact the Southern States Energy Board members shown below.  (Remember, last session, we had HB1207, a Secure Arkansas bill banning Smart Meters that Denny Altes carried.  Wonder why it failed…)

Southern States Energy Board

 

Arkansas

Legislation: Arkansas SSEB Legislation
Website: www.arkansas.gov

 

Suggested State Legislation proposed by CSG can be found by clicking on this highlighted link.  Arkansas Senator Keith M. Ingram is the SLC Chair 2013-2014 AND an NCSL member AND attends ALEC meetings.  Look for future emails from us regarding these groups.  CSG was formed in 1933, and 40 years later, ALEC was formed.  (Remember: ALEC corporate members are stealth lobbyists.  ALEC writes legislation to promote their own corporate interests, then their corporate members team up with legislators to promote the legislation.)  Click here to see the agenda from their December 2013 meeting which promoted the Conference of States.  ALEC lied to our legislators claiming a Conference of States is a good thing.  It’s not!  It could rob us of our beloved Constitution!

These groups should not be part of the legislation process.  Any legislator that is a member of ALEC, NCSL, CSG, SSEG, or SLC is controlled and should not be allowed any committee assignments.  It is the Chair who controls what legislation will be brought forward and allowed out of the committee.  Also, many of the committee Chairs have been known to give campaign donations to the members of the committee that they chair.  Could this be a bribe so that the Chair can control the committee and the legislation that comes out of that committee?  There have been ethics violations in the past where this funneling of money has occurred.  Here is Article 5 section 35 of the Arkansas State Constitution regarding bribes:

 

Article 5 section 35. Bribery of member of General Assembly or state officer.

Any person who shall, directly or indirectly, offer, give, or promise any money, or thing of value, testimonial, privilege or personal advantage to any executive or judicial officer, or member of the General Assembly; and any such executive or judicial officer, or member of the General Assembly, who shall receive or consent to receive any such consideration, either directly or indirectly, to influence his action in the performance or non performance of his public or official duty, shall be guilty of a felony, and be punished accordingly.