Liberal legislative exchange

For many decades America has been bedeviled by ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council. Membership is open to corporations and GOP state legislators. ALEC would try out some highly conservative and corporate friendly law in one state with a legislature controlled by the GOP, then make the text of that law available to GOP legislators in other states. Such ready-made bills usually came with assistance in getting them passed.

ALEC has been a thorn in the side of Democrats for about a half century. But attempts to get a Dem equivalent up and running have fizzled rather quickly. Hard to keep the money flowing when it doesn’t come from corporations.

It looks like such a progressive group has finally developed staying power. The State Innovation Exchange, SIX, has now been around for five years. One of its efforts is to codify abortion protections into state law in case the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. For example, SIX helped overturn an abortion ban in Massachusetts (173 years old, but inoperative with Roe v. Wade in place) and then went on to make sure abortion would remain protected in the state. SIX helped with policy materials, a press strategy, a video to share on social media, and contacts with legislators who crafted similar bills in other states who could share successes and failures.