The American Legislative Exchange Council's (ALEC) Economic Impact Statement Act is a telling example of its approach to environment-related legislation. Little wonder that most of the big corporations behind ALEC approve of this bill: it would require state agencies to produce detailed "economic impact statements" for all existing and proposed environmental regulations. ALEC says the draft bill has been designed "to provide environmental protection while permitting the creation of wealth through requiring an economic analysis of new environmental regulations." In truth, the proposed legislation seems little more than a perversion of the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act, which mandates environmental impact statements for significant federal government actions. Environmental activists have long used the landmark federal law to promote the public interest by halting or delaying potentially destructive projects; now, through ALEC's "model" legislation, corporate special interests aim to turn the tables at the state level. Although ALEC's self-described mission is to limit government, here's a case where government's bureaucracy would be significantly expanded. Agencies or other arms of state governments, after all, would have to generate all those economic impact statements required under its "model" legislation. The New Mexico Fish and Game Department has estimated, for example, that it would need twenty additional employees, at a cost of $1.5 million a year, to get the job done. Sections 14-17 and 67 of MA HB 4328, the "Economic Stimulus Bill," reflect ALEC's model legislation, but were fortunately vetoed by Governor Romney who recognized the dangerous and needless language. The language is particularly striking since adverse economic impacts would solely be determined by the Secretary of Economic Development. The Senate is currently taking up vetoes and these sections could be overridden at any point. It is important that the decisions regarding environmental legislation remain in the proper hands and not those of the business lobby.

Ran 9/13/2004