Thirteen Texas state legislators -- 10 Republicans and three Democrats -- became on Thursday the most recent in a stream of lawmakers to sever ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a corporate-funded organization that offers right-wing model legislation to member lawmakers across the nation.
The latest wave of departures comes in addition to the 12 other Texas legislators who left ALEC April of this year. As of Thursday, no Democratic lawmakers in the state are members of the organization, according to Progress Texas, an organization that lobbies against ALEC's influence in the state.
"These legislators have shown the courage of their convictions by standing up to a corporate bill factory and declaring their support for the people of Texas above all else," Matt Glazer, executive director of Progress Texas, said in a statement.
ALEC has come under fire for providing model bills that would, among other things, defund unions and decrease their influence, gut environmental regulations, privatize public schools and increase incarceration at the the behest of the private prison industry.
In the past year, more than thirty major corporations severed ties with ALEC, including Coca Cola, Pepsi, CVS and McDonald's. The most recent to do so was the pharmaceutical giant AmGen.
70 state legislators nationwide have cut ties with ALEC, according to the website SourceWatch.
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