ALEC Legislators Make Their Voices Heard

This week, ALEC released a letter with more than 150 state legislator signers and nearly 1,400 additional leader and activist signers to say “no thanks” to a federal bailout. This was the second letter from the organization during COVID-19, following one addressed to the President and governors to safely reopen society with over 200 signatures from state legislators.

And ALEC state legislators didn’t stop there. For instance, Tennessee Representative Bruce Griffey sent a personal letter to his governor calling for restrictions in his states to be lifted following a poll that showed over half of the 9,000 people polled were in favor of lifting restrictions:

“…I believe in and ran on a platform of advocating for reduced regulations and small, limited government that works for, serves and answers to its citizens, not restricts or infringes upon their rights or overrides their opinion.”

Representative Griffey also sent a letter to Attorney General Herbert Slatery asking the Attorney General to look into the legality of 4 of the Governor’s executive orders:

“As a Tennessee licensed and practicing attorney for thirty years, serving as both an Assistant Attorney General and Assistant District Attorney General, and as a former federal judicial law clerk, I have researched this issue myself and question the legal authority for the Governor to issue the above-described Executive Orders purporting to close businesses, dictate Tennesseans’ healthcare decisions or prohibit people from exercising their right to gather.”

Tennessee and Rep. Griffey is not the first state to question executive orders on closing. In mid-April, the Wisconsin legislature filed a lawsuit against the State’s Department of Health Services arguing that an extended Stay-At-Home order will leave the state “in shambles.” This week, the Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed and struck down the Governor’s orders, and allowed for the reopening of business and the workforce in Wisconsin.