control over state law and policy that we've seen for for decades now and let's talk about that that fear of control sphere of influence your organization the center for media and democracy just released a report that identifies four hundred sixty six alick bills introduced in two thousand and thirteen alone talk about the sphere of influence organization really wields sure so we we did. did release a new report today we found four hundred sixty six bills introduced in aid to cross the country and really in just the first six months of twenty thirteen just the first half of two thousand and thirteen which is a fairly astounding number when you get down to it and this is not actually even all of the alec model bills that have been introduced we looked at four separate areas the alec education bill the alec tort reform bills the worker's rights bills and the alec environmental bill. and we we know that we missed some and the numbers actually probably much much higher but what these bills do when you look at them in the aggregate is you really can see the extent of corporate influence over law and policy in many cases these bills are being introduced by legislators without

decades for the most part without anyone really noticing and that change in two thousand and eleven when a whistleblower came to the organization organization i work with the center for media and democracy with over eight hundred of alex previously secret model bills and with those bills and could begin to connect the dots begin to recognize just how much influence alec has had over or law and policy for a really long time. and how it has not done well in the sunlight they have not responded well to this sort of transparency over forty nine major corporations have dropped their alec membership in the past year alec is very much become a liability for a lot of the legislative members and as we've seen with the protests outside today a lot of people are really unhappy wants it by what alec is and how it operates. so we've seen a lot of new renewed efforts to remain secret to continue operating in the dark. so in addition to just a secret the secretive nature of these meetings press are not allowed inside i know a number of reporters who try doing press credentials at this meeting that were they were turned away there were a few is. they've also begun stamping their documents with a discla

is joining me now to talk more about alec and their annual conference going on in chicago is brandon fisher general counsel for the center for media and democracy brenda welcome. thanks for having me great to see if you're in chicago right now what's the scene like surrounding the alec conference. that's right it's at the palmer house which is one of the nicest hotels in chicago just a few blocks from the lake beautiful mural on the ceiling and it's a beautiful place to create a lot of really ugly legislation. i mean hundred thousand of legislators are milling throughout the hotel tending meetings and workshops sponsored by corporations and we were actually able to find some price tags on the workshops before the meeting called forty thousand dollars for a corporation to sponsor a workshop we know there's going to be workshops on fracking is going to be worked on promoting virtual school we also see the sponsor list the top sponsor for the alec meeting this year is reynolds tobacco that was one hundred thousand dollars following them in peabody energy and exxon mobile and also k. twelve inc which is the nation's largest provider of on line virt

harder for the american people to find out how alec is going to try and screw up next for more on this i'm joined now by brandon fisher attorney general counsel of the center for media and democracy brennan welcome back thanks for having me good to have you with us so what is alec up to in texas well this is not really only what they're up to in texas it's what they're up to in all fifty states over the last forty years has been able to operate in secret with no one paying attention and it's really only in the past over the past two years where the sunlight has begun to shine on alec and they and they have not done well with the sunlight shining on them and they'd much rather sneak back into the shadows so over there in recent months they've begun stamping their documents with a disclaimer asserting. immunity from every state's public records law. in texas this is the first state where they've actually asked the attorney general to grant them an explicit exception from that state although a pause for a second the public records laws basically say that if if you have an organization and you are interacting with our state legislators even one and there is some kind of a transaction

media outlets on the topic of libya. he's the executive director of the political development form from 2004 2010. from 2006 2 2009, he was the washington program director at the center for study of islam and democracy president and cofounder of the new libyan foundation, through incubation centers that serve as office and training .pace it also supports emerging civil society constitution network of approximately 907 organizations, to ensure the principles of inclusiveness and transparency are enshrined in the constitution grafting process. finally, we have joyce joining us, a program officer. she currently serves as a member of the iraq and north africa programs. from 2010 -- 2012, she worked in iraq. and managing u.s. ip's. she has conducted field research in rwanda and egypt, and has worked in the field for many unity based, nongovernmental organizations. with that, i would like to turn it over to our panel. >> thank you. first of all, i would like to thank the team for giving us this opportunity to speak to activists in civil society environment in the. it goes without saying i have to also think my daughter. she has been a massive .ncouragement to speak to you about libya is to speak to you ab