Addressing The Leading Issues Across the States: Lee Schalk on The Hugh Hewitt Show
At ALEC, we're all about developing solutions.
Hugh Hewitt spoke with Senior Vice President of Policy Lee Schalk last week about several leading issues affecting the states and the organizational priorities ALEC is focusing on ahead of its upcoming States & Nation Policy Summit in Fort Worth, TX, next month, including election security, school choice, and hospital price transparency.
The conversation started with Hewitt highlighting the excitement going into the upcoming ALEC States and Nation Policy Summit, then the discussion shifted to a story out of Newburgh, Maine where a woman received a surprise in her Amazon order.
“This story really caught our attention,” Schalk emphasized. “She was expecting to receive some rice, some paper plates, a toy lightsaber, but she also found 250 ballots for the Maine election, which included Question 1 on whether or not Maine should require voter ID.”
Hewitt jokingly followed up, saying, “I think that the instructions must be, whenever anyone orders a lightsaber, put in 250 ballots, and hopefully they’ll mark.”
“Election security one of our big priorities this year at ALEC. And if you think about Question 1 in Maine, look, Maine is one of 14 states that does not require voter ID, 14 states and the District of Columbia,” Schalk remarked. “At ALEC, we’re all about developing solutions. I think when it comes to voter ID, if you’re voting in person, you need to show it. If you’re requesting an absentee ballot, you need to show ID at the request, and when you return the ballot.”
The conversation then turned to the school choice movement, specifically the Hope Scholarships initiated by Senator Patricia Rucker in West Virginia. Schalk explained the criticism from the West Virginia State Board of Education regarding the Hope Scholarships and clarified that the funding does not come at the expense of public schools.
“The criticism that’s leveled is that this is taking money away from public schools, and that ALEC is anti-public school, and both of those claims couldn’t be further from the truth,” Schalk highlighted. “This funding comes out of the dollars that are allocated for public school students. They spend over $16,000 per public school student. This scholarship awards just over $5,000 a student. So, it’s actually not costing the state any more money.”
Hewitt later inquired about the recent ALEC Health Policy Academy in North Carolina. Schalk explained that the academy was designed to educate lawmakers and share policy solutions, with a recent emphasis on hospital price transparency and the new legislation enacted in Oklahoma.
“It’s part of our ongoing efforts to educate lawmakers and share policy solutions,” Schalk explained. Also “In Oklahoma, there was a press conference highlighting the best in the nation price transparency law passed by ALEC member and State Chair, Rep. Mark Lepak, in the Oklahoma House as a sponsor. This is based on ALEC model policy, and it’s going to really make Oklahoma a national leader.”