Extremist Legislation - 1st FL, Then ALEC, Then Your State

(My emphasis throughout)

Remember the Stand your Ground – you can Kill at Will gun law that the American Legislative Exchange Council made available to the state legislators who are members of ALEC?

Well – did you know that the NRA took that law to FLORIDA first

and after it was implemented in FLORIDA, then the NRA took it to ALEC

and then with ALEC’s help

and the vault of ALEC legislation

ALEC members copied/pasted (plagiarize) the legislation

and pass it off as their own – across the United States.

Well – it’s happened again

And FLORIDA  is where it started.

Drug testing of welfare recipients.

2011

New right-wing think tank touts Medicaid reform and welfare drug testing at ALEC event

By Ashley Lopez | 12.06.11 | 11:16 am

Tarren Bragdon, the president of a new Naples-based right-wing policy group, touted the state’s controversial Medicaid reform plans and Florida’s welfare drug testing law during an event held last week by the American Legislative Exchange Council (known as ALEC).

In the few months that the Foundation has been in Naples, one of the group’s pamphlets was included in the state’s defense of a controversial law requiring temporary cash assistance applicants to undergo a drug test before receiving benefits. The law was recently stopped from being implemented; the Foundation’s pamphlet was deemed “not competent expert opinion” by Judge Mary Scriven.

Bragdon’s previous employer, the Maine Heritage Policy Center, also had ties to Koch-funded groups such as the Heritage Foundation and Cato Institute.

Foundation for Government Accountability CEO Presents Florida’s Reform Successes

SCOTTSDALE, AZ – National healthpolicy leaders learned what common sense health and welfare reforms accomplishfor patients and taxpayers during a presentation by the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) to the Health and Human Services Task Force of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) last Friday.

Bragdon, a nationally recognized authority in Medicaid and welfare policy, presented to the Task Force his talk titled Florida’s Health Care Reforms: Health and Welfare Successes in the Sunshine State at ALEC’s 2011 States & Nation Policy Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona.

    “Florida has made tremendous accomplishments in the areas of patient-centered Medicaid reform and welfare accountability,” Bragdon said.  “I’m grateful to have shared these successes with free market leaders on the Health and Human Services Task Force.  Members left interested in exploring similar reforms for other states.”

Bragdon also discussed Florida’s welfare cash drug testing law, which requires applicants to pass a drug test before collecting taxpayer funded welfare cash.  In October, after just three months as law, activist federal Judge Mary Scriven suspended the law based on personal ideology rather than fact.

Bragdon’s presentation was well received.

    “Tarren presented the Task Force important information about Florida’s success in implementing reforms that are both pro-patient and pro-taxpayer,” explained Christie Herrera, Director of ALEC’s Health and Human Services Task Force.  “Tarren showed why members should look to Florida for free market Medicaid and welfare reforms that strengthen these safety net programs for those who truly need them, and save money for the taxpayers who fund them.”

After the ALEC meeting 
the Florida legislation (which was shut down by a judge)
started creeping across the United States.

     

2012

RELEASE: Think Tank Shares Florida’s Welfare Drug Testing Success at Georgia Public Hearing

By Chris Cinquemani · February 15, 2012 ·

ATLANTA –Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) Chief Executive Officer Tarren Bragdon traveled to Atlanta, Georgia today to present results of Florida’s welfare cash drug testing law at a legislative hearing on a bill to enact similar requirements in the Peach State.

Georgia State Representative Jason Spencer, sponsor of HB 668, invited Bragdon to testify in support of his bill after studying earlier FGA research on Florida’s welfare cash drug testing requirement.  FGA analysis of state-generated data from the first quarter of the Florida law showed a 48 percent drop in monthly cash assistance approvals and a drug-related denial rate of 19 percent.  In all, Florida taxpayers saved an estimated $1.8 million.

Sponsored By

(1) Spencer, Jason 180th

(2) Willard, Wendell 49th

(3) Braddock, Paulette 19th - ALEC

(4) Houston, Penny 170th

(5) Atwood, Alex 179th

(6) Byrd, Charlice 20th-

ALEC Health and Human Services Task Force Member - 2011

In December, Bragdon gave a similar presentation on Florida’s welfare cash drug testing law to the Health and Human Services Task Force of the American Legislative Exchange Council, an association of public, private and non-profit policy leaders who collaborate to develop ideas that address common challenges faced by the states.

According to recent media reports, up to 37 states are considering welfare cash drug testing.  Besides Florida, Arizona and Missouri have already passed such legislation.  Many reject the activist ruling of pro-addict federal Judge Mary Scriven temporarily halting Florida’s law.  State leaders understand her decree—criticized by legal scholars and child advocates—is wrong and puts kids at risk.  Governor Rick Scott has appealed her decision.

The American Legislative Exchange Council facilitating extremist right-wing legislation through their ALEC state legislators across the US.