Koch Industries Helps Write State Laws

Koch Industries, the company of financiers David and Charles Koch, has helped states to write energy legislation through a Washington-based group, the American Legislative Exchange Council, that it funds. Koch isn’t the only company: ExxonMobil is a member of ALEC too. The group charges companies a membership fee as high as $25,000; then it charges them several thousand dollars more to draft specific items of legislation alongside elected officials, who are then expected to guide the bill to law. An ALEC spokeswoman says the group promotes “good conservative policy.” ALEC-sponsored energy bills are before legislatures in Oregon, New Hampshire, and New Mexico. Koch and Exxon paid between $3,000 and $10,000 to have a hand in writing those bills.