American Legislative Exchange Council Transparency and Public Engagement

This statement, originally published in May 2013, has been updated as of October 2026.

The American Legislative Exchange Council is America’s largest nonpartisan, voluntary membership organization, comprised of nearly one-third of the country’s state legislators. The Council provides a unique opportunity for state lawmakers, business leaders and citizen organizations from around the country to share experiences and develop state-based, pro-growth models based on academic research, existing state policy and proven business practices. The Exchange Council is a non-profit, educational policy organization that facilitates substantive, academic discussions.

The American Legislative Exchange Council provides a forum to facilitate the exchange of policy ideas from a variety of perspectives. Model policy and resolutions are developed by organization members and may or may not reflect the positions of any individual member, company, association, or non-profit.

Only elected officials (public-sector members) can introduce policy for discussion and potential adoption as model policy, and only the Board of Directors, comprised solely of elected officials can approve policy for the organization. All adopted model policy merely represents the perspectives of the American Legislative Exchange Council and its members. Policies need to be introduced, reviewed, debated and voted on by elected officials in their respective state legislatures in order for a law to be enacted.

The American Legislative Exchange Council and its eleven task forces closely imitate the state legislative process: resolutions are introduced and assigned to an appropriate task force or forces based on subject and scope; meetings are conducted where experts present facts and opinion for discussion; these discussions are followed by a vote. All adopted model policies are adopted for a duration of ten years, at which point a policy automatically expires (and is no longer endorsed by the organization) or is renewed by by ALEC’s membership for another ten years.

Task forces operate with transparency and serve as testing grounds to judge whether resolutions can achieve consensus. To further transparent operations, promote increased education, and further the open exchange of ideas across America, all adopted model policies are published at www.alec.org.

In May 2025, ALEC created the Process and Procedures Task Force, reaffirming its commitment to the principles of federalism. The task force focuses on promoting clear rules of engagement between government and its citizens, oversight, and election integrity.