Legislation/Policy Origin
The Model State — ALEC and the Georgia General Assembly
This document provides a strategic research framework for investigating the influence of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and private corrections vendors on Georgia's criminal justice system. It identifies a well-sourced nexus between ALEC, private prison operators (CoreCivic, GEO Group), and telecom vendors (Securus), while also detailing a significant accountability gap created by the Georgia Court of Appeals' ruling in Institute for Justice v. Reilly, which exempts the General Assembly from the Open Records Act. The analysis recommends a phased action plan focusing on open-records requests to executive agencies, building a legislative text-similarity pipeline, and rigorously distinguishing between documented facts and unverified allegations to construct a defensible, evidence-based narrative.
Where this research is used
This page is a research collection: individual facts drawn from the sources listed further down, each traced to where it came from. A research topic brings many collections together into one overview of an issue. The facts on this page feed these 8 topics; open one to see how they fit with the rest of the evidence.
Communications & Technology
Georgia's prison communications system runs through a single dominant vendor, Securus Technologies, that sells the phone service, supplies the tablets, moves the money, and operates the cell-phone blocking equipment at four state prisons — while paying Georgia a 59.6% commission on every call. Families pay for that arrangement at every step: per-minute calls, email stamps, money-transfer fees, music and e-book markups, and roughly $115 to $135 a month in estimated communications costs. The state has spent approximately $50 million through fiscal year 2026 blocking contraband phones even as phone-related incidents rose from 8,966 in 2019 to 11,880 in 2024, and its own records on the contracts that govern all of it remain largely undisclosed.
3,368 data points
Historical Context
Georgia's prison system was built on the 13th Amendment's punishment exception, converted within a year of ratification into a convict leasing regime that leased Black prisoners to railroads, mines, brick kilns, and plantations from 1866 until 1908 — a system whose annual death rates in some camps exceeded 20 percent. Abolition did not end coerced labor: chain gangs, prison farms, and eventually Georgia Correctional Industries carried the same economic logic forward, and the state today pays most incarcerated workers nothing while operating one of the largest prison labor systems in the country. Federal courts dismantled the worst conditions at Georgia State Prison between 1972 and 1999, but the record assembled across these collections shows a system that has reverted to the same constitutional failures whenever oversight ends — and that Georgia has never created an independent body to watch it.
2,070 data points
Legal Standards & Case Law
Georgia's prison conditions are judged against a constitutional floor built between 1976 and 1994 — Estelle v. Gamble, Rhodes v. Chapman, Wilson v. Seiter, Helling v. McKinney, and Farmer v. Brennan — then narrowed by the 1996 Prison Litigation Reform Act and, in the Eleventh Circuit, by Wade v. McDade in 2024. The distance between that floor and what Georgians in custody actually experience has been documented in a federal takeover of Georgia State Prison that ran from 1972 to 1999, a solitary-confinement consent decree the state was held in contempt of in April 2024, and an October 2024 Department of Justice findings letter concluding that Georgia engages in a pattern or practice of Eighth Amendment violations. This page sets out what the law requires, what it permits, and where the gap between the two has been measured.
8,020 data points
Oversight & Accountability
Georgia operates one of the largest state prison systems in the country with no independent ombudsman, no inspector general for corrections, no outside monitors with a right of entry, and no oversight bill that has ever passed its legislature. Every accountability mechanism that exists — PREA compliance, internal investigations, mortality review, accreditation — is housed inside the Georgia Department of Corrections and answers to the Commissioner it is meant to check. The result, documented across 108 GPS research collections, is a system that reported 6 homicides in a month when its own records showed at least 18, that passed 273 consecutive sexual-abuse audits with zero failed standards while the U.S. Department of Justice found assault rampant, and that has faced a 93-page federal findings letter, 82 recommended remedies, a contempt order, and daily court fines without a single enforceable reform.
15,407 data points
Parole & Sentencing
Georgia's parole system has contracted sharply over three decades: the Board of Pardons and Paroles released 5,588 people on parole in FY2025, down 42% from 9,455 in FY2019, and its lifer grant rate has fallen from 21.9% in FY2001–FY2006 to roughly 5% today. Average time served on a life sentence for a serious violent felony has risen from under nine years in 1973 to 29.6 years in FY2025 per the Board's own reporting — 31.1 years by GPS's separate count. The result is a system in which parole eligibility at 7, 14, or 30 years increasingly ends in denial, reconsideration up to eight years later, and release for many only at the maximum sentence date.
12,868 data points
Policy & Advocacy
Georgia's policy and advocacy landscape is defined by a paradox: a decade of bipartisan sentencing reform that measurably reduced incarceration and racial disparity, followed by a sharp reversal toward prison construction, surveillance technology, and record spending attached to no independent oversight. Legislative victories on wrongful conviction compensation, survivor justice, and out-of-time appeals sit alongside bills that died in the last minutes of session — an independent prison ombudsman, restrictive housing limits, parole transparency — and a post-conviction system the Chief Justice of Georgia calls 'a mess' that only the legislature can fix. The 2026 statewide elections and an unresolved federal investigation are the two live pressure points advocates are organizing around.
7,412 data points
Prison Labor & Economics
Georgia pays incarcerated workers $0 for regular prison labor — kitchen, laundry, groundskeeping, maintenance, construction — making it one of roughly seven states with no compensation for institutional work, while the state simultaneously extracts $18.76 million a year in commissary profit and an estimated $256 million in unpaid labor value. GPS's research across 33 collections documents a closed-loop system: the state profits from free labor, then profits again when families buy marked-up necessities the state refuses to provide. The structural logic traces directly to Georgia's convict leasing era (1866–1908), a continuity the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute has itself acknowledged.
3,864 data points
Reform Models & Programs
Georgia operates a statewide cognitive-skills curriculum for parolees, twelve reentry and cognitive programming centers, contracted addiction treatment, step-down units inside its Tier segregation system, and an earned-time credit statute — and the national evidence base for each of those program types is unusually strong. What the record does not contain is current, published, rigorously designed outcome data for most of Georgia's own programs, and the state's direct spending on them amounts to a fraction of one percent of the prison budget. This page sets out what the research verifies, what Georgia actually runs, what it spends, what other states have achieved, and where the evidence stops.
12,091 data points
Key Findings
The most impactful data from this research collection. Tap a card for the full finding, GPS commentary on why it matters, and its source.
The finding
The Guardian (December 6, 2013), citing internal ALEC records, reported that ALEC had lost almost 400 state legislators from its membership over the previous two years, as well as more than 60 corporations forming the core of its funding.
Why it matters · GPS commentary
ALEC's reach shrank around the time its model bills leaked in 2011 and its Public Safety and Elections Task Force disbanded in 2012, so any claim of ALEC influence on Georgia criminal law needs to be dated before or after that break.
Our reading of the finding above. It is not part of the source.Source
- The Guardian (December 6, 2013)
The finding
The 'Copy, Paste, Legislate' investigation found more than 2,100 copycat bills were enacted into law.
Why it matters · GPS commentary
Model-bill text reaching the statute books on this scale makes a text-similarity comparison of Georgia bills a workable test of outside influence, though the overall count does not show how many of those laws are Georgia's.
Our reading of the finding above. It is not part of the source.
The finding
The Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts FY2018 audit found that when controlling for an offender's sex, facility size, and risk classification, state prisons run about $44.56 per offender per day while private prisons run around $49.07 per day per offender — private prisons costing approximately 10 percent more.
Why it matters · GPS commentary
By the state auditor's measure, private beds cost Georgia more, not less, which weakens cost savings as a reason for the FY2026 increase in private-prison per-diem funding, though GEO Group disputed the audit's method.
Our reading of the finding above. It is not part of the source.Source
- Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts FY2018 audit
The finding
GDC's four private prisons house roughly 7,800 inmates, about 15 percent of the total population, for which the state pays CoreCivic and GEO Group a collective approximately $140 million annually.
Why it matters · GPS commentary
A payment of this size gives CoreCivic and GEO Group a direct, recurring financial stake in how many people Georgia imprisons, the interest behind the collection's look at their past roles in ALEC's criminal justice task forces.
Our reading of the finding above. It is not part of the source.Source
- Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts FY2018 audit
The finding
The Georgia General Assembly and its offices are exempt from the Open Records Act per Institute for Justice v. Reilly, 351 Ga. App. 317 (2019).
Why it matters · GPS commentary
Lawmakers' dealings with ALEC or vendors cannot be obtained from the General Assembly by open-records request, which leaves executive-agency records and comparisons of bill text as the main ways to trace outside influence on Georgia law.
Our reading of the finding above. It is not part of the source.
The finding
ALEC remains a 501(c)(3) organization and is the subject of a still-unresolved Common Cause / Center for Media and Democracy IRS whistleblower complaint filed in 2012 and supplemented in 2013, 2015, and 2016, centered on its corporate-funded 'scholarship' travel fund.
Why it matters · GPS commentary
Until the IRS acts on the complaint, ALEC keeps the tax status it cites for not registering as a lobbyist principal in Georgia, and whether its corporate-funded scholarship travel amounts to lobbying stays unresolved rather than a finding.
Our reading of the finding above. It is not part of the source.
The finding
No record was found of ALEC registering as a lobbyist principal in Georgia; its 501(c)(3) educational posture is the stated basis for not doing so.
Why it matters · GPS commentary
Without that registration, ALEC's scholarship travel for Georgia legislators may fall outside lobbyist expenditure reports, and legislators' financial disclosures do not require gift disclosure, so neither public record reliably shows the relationship.
Our reading of the finding above. It is not part of the source.All Data Points
77 verified data points extracted from primary sources.
ALEC FY2024 Total Revenue Statistic
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) reported total revenue of $10,918,816 for fiscal year 2024.
$10.9M USD
CCA/CoreCivic co-chaired ALEC's Criminal Justice Task Force in early 1990s Finding
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA, now CoreCivic) co-chaired ALEC's Criminal Justice Task Force in the early 1990s, per In These Times reporting by Beau Hodai (2010).
Source
- In These Times reporting by Beau Hodai (2010)
ALEC FY2024 Contributions as Percentage of Revenue Statistic
Contributions of $9,508,430 constituted 87.1% of ALEC's total revenue in FY2024.
87.1%
CCA/CoreCivic left ALEC in late 2010 or 2011 Finding
Per ALEC Exposed (Center for Media and Democracy), CCA left ALEC in late 2010 after years of membership on the Criminal Justice Task Force. Prison Legal News states that CCA reportedly left the organization in 2011.
ALEC CEO Compensation FY2024 Statistic
ALEC CEO Lisa B. Nelson received $507,409 in compensation in FY2024, with an additional $20,380 in other compensation.
$507,409 USD
CCA and CoreCivic have denied lobbying for harsher sentencing Finding
CCA and CoreCivic have denied lobbying for harsher sentencing.
Source
- In These Times reporting by Beau Hodai (2010)
ALEC FY2023 Total Revenue Statistic
ALEC reported total revenue of $11,289,177 for fiscal year 2023.
$11.3M USD
GEO Group was a member of ALEC's crime task force during the 1990s Finding
GEO Group (formerly Wackenhut Corrections) was a member of ALEC's crime task force during the 1990s truth-in-sentencing and three-strikes push. It departed amid the 2011–2013 exodus.
Source
- In These Times reporting by Beau Hodai (2010)
Estimated ALEC Corporate-Funded Travel for Legislators 2006-2012 Statistic
A 2012 report by the Center for Media and Democracy, Common Cause, and DBA Press estimated that ALEC's corporate backers funneled more than an estimated $4 million in gifts to state legislators for travel, hotel rooms, and meals at resorts since 2006.
$4.0M USD
American Bail Coalition is an executive member of ALEC's Public Safety and Elections Task Force Finding
The American Bail Coalition is an executive member of the Public Safety and Elections Task Force and remains central to ALEC, with its representative listed as ALEC's 2026 National Chairman on ALEC's leadership page.
Source
Estimated Annual ALEC Spending on Legislator Trips 2006-2008 Statistic
In the 2006–2008 period, ALEC was spending about $600,000 annually on trips for state legislators, according to a 2012 report based on internal ALEC records.
$600,000 USD
ALEC disbanded the Public Safety and Elections Task Force in April 2012 Finding
ALEC disbanded the Public Safety and Elections Task Force in April 2012 following the Trayvon Martin and 'Stand Your Ground' boycott.
Number of ALEC Model Bills Leaked in 2011 Statistic
On July 13, 2011, the Center for Media and Democracy and The Nation published more than 800 ALEC model bills and resolutions.
800 model bills
Source
ALEC lost almost 400 state legislators and over 60 corporate members by 2013 Statistic
The Guardian (December 6, 2013), citing internal ALEC records, reported that ALEC had lost almost 400 state legislators from its membership over the previous two years, as well as more than 60 corporations forming the core of its funding.
400 legislators
Source
- The Guardian (December 6, 2013)
Number of Copycat Bills Found in USA TODAY/CPI Investigation Statistic
The 'Copy, Paste, Legislate' investigation found at least 10,000 copycat bills introduced in state legislatures, of which more than 2,100 were enacted.
10,000 bills
ALEC suffered a budget hole of more than a third of projected income in first half of 2013 Finding
The Guardian (December 6, 2013) reported that in the first six months of 2013 ALEC suffered a budget hole of more than a third of its projected income.
Source
- The Guardian (December 6, 2013)
Number of Enacted Copycat Bills Found in USA TODAY/CPI Investigation Statistic
The 'Copy, Paste, Legislate' investigation found more than 2,100 copycat bills were enacted into law.
2,100 bills
ALEC corporate members fell from a 2011 peak of 280 to 214 Statistic
The Guardian reported that ALEC's corporate members had fallen from a 2011 peak of 280 to 214.
214 corporate members vs. 280 2011 peak
Source
- The Guardian (December 6, 2013)
Bill Similarity Score Threshold for 'Copy, Paste, Legislate' Methodology note
The 'Copy, Paste, Legislate' investigation only cited bills scoring 80 or above on a 100-point similarity scale as containing substantial amounts of duplicated text.
Data gap: No direct ALEC task-force membership surfaced for most healthcare, food, and commissary firms Data gap
The record confirms ALEC's sector ties in private prisons and bail, but did NOT surface direct ALEC task-force membership for most healthcare, food, and commissary firms. This is a data gap that should not be overstated.
Source
- GPS original analysis
Number of Model Legislation Pieces in University of Chicago Dataset Statistic
The University of Chicago Data Science for Social Good 'policy_diffusion' repository collected approximately 2,400 pieces of model legislation from five groups including ALEC.
2,400 model legislation pieces
CoreCivic operates three Georgia facilities: Coffee, Wheeler, and Jenkins Finding
CoreCivic operates three Georgia facilities: Coffee Correctional Facility (Nicholls; opened 1998; approximately 2,900 to 3,032 beds), Wheeler Correctional Facility (Alamo; opened 1998; approximately 2,874 beds), and Jenkins Correctional Center (Millen; contracted September 2010, opened March 2012).
Number of Bill-to-Bill Reuse Instances Found by LID Statistic
The Legislative Influence Detector (LID) project found 45,405 bill-to-bill reuse instances.
45,405 reuse instances
GEO Group operates one Georgia facility: Riverbend Correctional Facility Finding
GEO Group operates one facility in Georgia: Riverbend Correctional Facility.
Number of Model-Legislation-to-Bill Reuse Instances Found by LID Statistic
The Legislative Influence Detector (LID) project found 14,137 model-legislation-to-bill reuse instances.
14,137 reuse instances
D. Ray James facility exited the Georgia state continuum and is now a federal facility Finding
D. Ray James (Folkston), built and operated by Cornell Companies, Inc. under a 1997 contract, has since exited the state continuum and is now a federal facility.
Georgia ALEC State Chairs in 2026 Finding
As of 2026, ALEC's official State Chairs page lists Rep. John Carson and Rep. Soo Hong as the two Georgia state chairs.
Source
Georgia private prisons cost approximately 10 percent more per day than state prisons Statistic
The Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts FY2018 audit found that when controlling for an offender's sex, facility size, and risk classification, state prisons run about $44.56 per offender per day while private prisons run around $49.07 per day per offender — private prisons costing approximately 10 percent more.
$49.07 vs. 44.6 state prison cost per day per offender
Source
- Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts FY2018 audit
John Carson on ALEC National Board of Directors Finding
Rep. John Carson sits on ALEC's national Board of Directors, confirmed by ALEC's May 2024 board roster and IRS Form 990 filings for FY2023 and FY2024.
Georgia pays CoreCivic and GEO Group approximately $140 million annually for roughly 7,800 inmates Statistic
GDC's four private prisons house roughly 7,800 inmates, about 15 percent of the total population, for which the state pays CoreCivic and GEO Group a collective approximately $140 million annually.
$140.0M
Source
- Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts FY2018 audit
Chip Rogers' ALEC Role Confirmed on Camera Quote
Former Sen. Chip Rogers confirmed his ALEC role on camera to CBS News, stating that legislators pay '$50 a year' to belong.
Source
GEO Group disputed the FY2018 audit methodology Finding
GEO Group disputed the audit methodology of the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts FY2018 audit.
Source
- Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts FY2018 audit
Georgia General Assembly Exempt from Open Records Act Legal fact
The Georgia General Assembly and its offices are exempt from the Open Records Act per Institute for Justice v. Reilly, 351 Ga. App. 317 (2019).
FY2026 budget increases per-diem funding for private prisons Statistic
The Governor's FY2026 budget (HB 68) increased per-diem funding by facility as follows: Coffee plus $3,033,827; Wheeler plus $3,208,871; Jenkins plus $3,654,586; Riverbend plus $3,750,000.
$13.6M
Legislative Counsel Drafting Communications Exempt from Disclosure Legal fact
Legislative Counsel drafting communications are separately exempt from disclosure under O.C.G.A. § 28-4-3.1.
GDC's inmate telecom vendor is Securus (Aventiv) Finding
GDC's original inmate-phone contract with Securus dates to September 21, 2016, with a First Amendment effective January 1, 2017. GDC received a $4 million one-time incentive and a 59.6 percent commission on call revenue, subject to a $325,000 per month floor, with calls at approximately 13 cents per minute, or approximately $1.95 per 15-minute call. The commission yields roughly $8 million per year to GDC.
ALEC's 501(c)(3) Status and IRS Whistleblower Complaint Legal fact
ALEC remains a 501(c)(3) organization and is the subject of a still-unresolved Common Cause / Center for Media and Democracy IRS whistleblower complaint filed in 2012 and supplemented in 2013, 2015, and 2016, centered on its corporate-funded 'scholarship' travel fund.
Data gap: Current renewed Securus contract terms require an open records request Data gap
The current renewed contract's exact terms require a Georgia Open Records Act request to GDC.
Source
- GPS original analysis
Georgia Lobbyist Expenditure Reporting Requirement Legal fact
Lobbyists must file expenditure disclosures via the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission's electronic filing system under O.C.G.A. § 21-5-73, naming the public officer benefited.
Source
Statewide package vendor is reported as Union Supply Group Finding
The statewide package vendor is reported, on secondary sourcing, as Union Supply Group. Keefe Group and TKC Holdings appear at the Georgia county-jail level but are NOT confirmed as the statewide GDC vendor.
Source
- GPS original analysis
Georgia Public Officer Lobbyist Expenditure Ban Legal fact
Since a 2013 ethics law, public officers may not accept lobbyist expenditures, subject to enumerated exceptions under O.C.G.A. § 21-5-72.1.
GDC food service appears to be state-run at approximately 60 cents per meal Statistic
The Marshall Project (2026) reported that the Georgia corrections department's food system is state-run, at approximately 60 cents per meal.
$0.60
Source
- The Marshall Project (2026)
Georgia Legislator Financial Disclosures Do Not Require Gift Disclosure Legal fact
Legislator annual financial disclosures do NOT require disclosure of gifts and do not include client names, per O.C.G.A. § 21-5-50(b).
Data gap: Statewide GDC food or commissary vendor not confirmed as Keefe, Trinity, or Aramark Data gap
The claim that Keefe, Trinity Services Group, or Aramark holds the statewide GDC food or commissary contract is NOT supported by the current record and must be verified by open-records request.
Source
- GPS original analysis
Georgia Gift Definition Threshold Legal fact
The 'gift' definition in Georgia applies only to transfers over $100, per O.C.G.A. § 21-5-3(14).
Martha Wright-Reed Act signed January 5, 2023 Legal fact
The Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act was signed January 5, 2023 (Public Law 117-338).
Source
- Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act (Public Law 117-338)
ALEC Scholarship Travel May Fall Outside Georgia Lobbyist Reporting Finding
If ALEC, a 501(c)(3) 'educational' organization and not a registered lobbyist principal, pays a Georgia legislator's travel via a 'scholarship,' that payment may fall outside the lobbyist-expenditure reporting regime entirely, because it is not routed through a registered lobbyist and ALEC does not register as a principal.
FCC rate-cap order capped prison phone rates at 6 cents per minute effective January 1, 2025 Legal fact
The rate-cap order FCC 24-75 was adopted July 18, 2024 and released July 22, 2024 in WC Docket 23-62, capping prison phone rates at 6 cents per minute effective January 1, 2025 for prisons and large jails and April 1, 2025 for smaller jails, and banning site commissions.
Source
- FCC 24-75 rate-cap order
No Record of ALEC Registering as Lobbyist Principal in Georgia Data gap
No record was found of ALEC registering as a lobbyist principal in Georgia; its 501(c)(3) educational posture is the stated basis for not doing so.
FCC waiver postponed IPCS compliance deadlines to April 1, 2027 Legal fact
On June 30, 2025, the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau issued waiver order DA 25-565 postponing compliance to April 1, 2027 — an up-to-two-year delay announced by Chairman Brendan Carr, with Commissioner Anna Gomez dissenting.
CoreCivic Historical Role in ALEC Criminal Justice Task Force Finding
CoreCivic (then Corrections Corporation of America) co-chaired ALEC's Criminal Justice Task Force in the early 1990s and left in late 2010.
Georgia Court of Appeals held General Assembly exempt from Open Records Act Legal fact
In Institute for Justice v. Reilly, 351 Ga. App. 317, 830 S.E.2d 793 (2019), the Georgia Court of Appeals held, by a 2-1 vote, that the General Assembly and all its related offices are not subject to the Open Records Act.
Source
- Institute for Justice v. Reilly, 351 Ga. App. 317 (2019)
ALEC Public Safety and Elections Task Force Disbanded Finding
ALEC's Public Safety and Elections Task Force disbanded in April 2012.
Chief Judge McFadden dissented in Institute for Justice v. Reilly Finding
Chief Judge McFadden dissented, arguing that the phrase 'every state office' is clear and unmistakable.
Source
- Institute for Justice v. Reilly, 351 Ga. App. 317 (2019)
Georgia's 1994 Sentencing Law Predates Leaked ALEC Corpus Finding
Georgia's foundational sentencing statutes, the 'seven deadly sins' (O.C.G.A. § 17-10-6.1) and two-strikes law (O.C.G.A. § 17-10-7), enacted in 1994, predate the leaked ALEC model-bill corpus and cannot currently be shown to be textual copies of an ALEC model.
O.C.G.A. § 28-4-3.1 exempts communications between Legislative Counsel and legislators Legal fact
O.C.G.A. § 28-4-3.1 exempts communications between the Office of Legislative Counsel and legislators from the Open Records Act.
Source
- O.C.G.A. § 28-4-3.1
Georgia HB 87 Modeled on Arizona SB 1070 Finding
Georgia HB 87 (2011), the Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act, was explicitly modeled on Arizona's SB 1070, which is the most strongly documented ALEC-linked bill in the country.
Source
O.C.G.A. § 50-18-72(a)(12) exempts staff-service records of individual members Legal fact
O.C.G.A. § 50-18-72(a)(12) exempts staff-service records of individual members from the Open Records Act.
Source
- O.C.G.A. § 50-18-72(a)(12)
No Documentation of GDC Personnel at ALEC Events Data gap
No documentation was found placing Georgia Department of Corrections, Georgia Board of Corrections, Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, or Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia personnel at ALEC events or on ALEC task forces.
Georgia is a 'hard-shield' state for legislative open records Finding
This makes Georgia a hard-shield state, closer to the failure end of the spectrum, where ALEC-related legislator record requests have failed because the legislature is exempt from public-records law.
Source
- Institute for Justice v. Reilly, 351 Ga. App. 317 (2019)
Pre-2001 Georgia Bills Not Machine-Readable Data gap
Pre-2001 and pre-1990 Georgia legislative sessions, including the pivotal 1994 Sentence Reform Act, are effectively not machine-readable, existing as scanned PDFs, bound session laws, and microfiche.
Data gap: No specific enacted model-bill-disclosure statute cited as drafting precedent Data gap
The record did not surface a specific enacted model-bill-disclosure statute to cite as drafting precedent. The project should locate, as candidate precedents, transparency bills requiring legislators to disclose the origin of introduced bills or to report third-party-funded travel.
Source
- GPS original analysis
ALEC Created 501(c)(4) Jeffersonian Project in 2013 Finding
ALEC created a 501(c)(4) lobbying arm, the Jeffersonian Project, in 2013 in direct response to the Common Cause and Center for Media and Democracy complaints.
ALEC's criminal-justice work migrated to a Justice Performance Project after 2012 Finding
After the April 2012 disbanding of the Public Safety and Elections Task Force, criminal-justice work migrated to a Justice Performance Project and later to a standalone Criminal Justice task force, which ALEC's current site lists among its task forces.
Smith-Waterman Algorithm Used for Bill Similarity Detection Methodology note
Both the USA TODAY/CPI 'Copy, Paste, Legislate' investigation and the University of Chicago's Legislative Influence Detector used the Smith-Waterman local alignment algorithm to detect text reuse in legislation.
ALEC claims the FIRST STEP Act was driven by its members Finding
ALEC's website states that the historic FIRST STEP Act was driven by ALEC members, and CEO Lisa Nelson said ALEC took all of the positive policy that came out of the states and brought it to Washington.
Independent accounts credit First Step Act to a broad bipartisan coalition, not ALEC specifically Finding
Independent accounts, including the Brennan Center for Justice and the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, credit the First Step Act (2018) to a broad bipartisan coalition years in the making. ALEC's claim is best characterized as partially supported but self-aggrandizing.
Georgia's 2011–2016 reforms were driven by the Georgia Council on Criminal Justice Reform Finding
Georgia's 2011–2016 reforms under Gov. Nathan Deal were driven by the Georgia Council on Criminal Justice Reform, created in 2011, with technical assistance from the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Texas Public Policy Foundation and its Right on Crime initiative, and the Georgia Public Policy Foundation.
HB 1176 (2012) passed unanimously and was signed May 2, 2012 Legal fact
The landmark HB 1176 (2012), sponsored by Rep. Rich Golick, passed unanimously and was signed May 2, 2012.
ALEC has consistently responded that taking policy positions is not lobbying Quote
ALEC has consistently responded that taking policy positions is not lobbying — a statement from ALEC's Raegan Weber to ProPublica in 2011 — and that a model bill works through the very public legislative process afterward.
Brendan Keefe ejected from Savannah ALEC meeting in 2015 Case detail
Brendan Keefe, a reporter for WXIA / 11Alive, was ejected from the Savannah ALEC meeting while investigating 'A charity for lawmakers? ALEC feeds them bills,' which aired July 2, 2015.
Source
- Brendan Keefe, 'A charity for lawmakers? ALEC feeds them bills,' WXIA / 11Alive, July 2, 2015
Georgia Public Policy Foundation is a State Policy Network member Finding
The Georgia Public Policy Foundation is a State Policy Network member and publicly promoted the 'smart on crime' reforms. It is the most plausible in-state ALEC-adjacent organization.
Methodology: 'Copy, Paste, Legislate' threshold of 80 on 100-point scale for text similarity Methodology note
The project should adopt the 'Copy, Paste, Legislate' threshold of 80 or above on a 100-point scale for legislative text similarity, cite only above it, apply human review, and explicitly disclose the shared-ideology confound.
Falsification criteria for core thesis defined Methodology note
What would falsify the core thesis: (a) the similarity pipeline finds no match scoring 80 or above between any Georgia statute and any dated ALEC model; (b) open-records responses show no GDC, Board of Corrections, Board of Pardons and Paroles, or Prosecuting Attorneys' Council personnel ever attended ALEC events; and (c) the lobbyist registry shows ALEC never registered, and no scholarship reimbursement to a Georgia legislator can be documented.
Source
- GPS original analysis
Georgia's foundational 1994 sentencing laws predate the leaked ALEC corpus Methodology note
Georgia's foundational sentencing laws, enacted in 1994, predate the leaked ALEC corpus and cannot presently be shown to be textual copies. Do not assert that ALEC wrote any Georgia statute without a text match.
Source
- GPS original analysis
Common Cause IRS complaint against ALEC remains unadjudicated Finding
The Common Cause IRS complaint remains unadjudicated.
Source
- GPS original analysis
Bruce Thompson 2015 Savannah meals allegation is unproven Finding
The Bruce Thompson 2015 Savannah meals allegation is unproven.
Source
- GPS original analysis
Sources
45 cited sources backing this research.
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Brendan Keefe, 'A charity for lawmakers? ALEC feeds them bills,' WXIA / 11Alive, July 2, 2015
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FCC 24-75 rate-cap order
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Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts FY2018 audit
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Gps original
GPS original analysis
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In These Times reporting by Beau Hodai (2010)
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Institute for Justice v. Reilly, 351 Ga. App. 317 (2019)
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Data portal
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Data portal
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Legislation
Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act (Public Law 117-338)
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O.C.G.A. § 28-4-3.1
Primary
Legal document
O.C.G.A. § 50-18-72(a)(12)
Secondary
Journalism
Secondary
Journalism
Primary
Official report
Primary
Official report
Primary
Official report
Primary
Official report
Secondary
Journalism
The Guardian (December 6, 2013)
Secondary
Journalism
The Marshall Project (2026)
Secondary
Press release
Primary
Legal document
Secondary
Journalism
Secondary
Journalism
Key Entities
Organizations, people, facilities, and other named entities referenced in this research.
ALEC
[organization]
American Bail Coalition
[organization]
Brendan Keefe
[person]
Bruce Thompson
[person]
Center for Media and Democracy
[organization]
Chip Rogers
[person]
Coffee Correctional Facility
[facility]
Common Cause
[organization]
CoreCivic
[organization]
D. Ray James Correctional Facility
[facility]
Federal Communications Commission
[organization]
GDC
[organization]
GEO Group
[organization]
Georgia Board of Corrections
[organization]
Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles
[organization]
Georgia Council on Criminal Justice Reform
[organization]
Georgia Department of Corrections
[organization]
Georgia General Assembly
[organization]
Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission
[organization]
Georgia Public Policy Foundation
[organization]
HB 1176
[legislation]
HB 87
[legislation]
IRS
[organization]
Jeffersonian Project
[organization]
Jenkins Correctional Center
[facility]
John Carson
[person]
Lisa B. Nelson
[person]
Rich Golick
[person]
Right on Crime
[organization]
Riverbend Correctional Facility
[facility]
Securus
[organization]
Soo Hong
[person]
State Policy Network
[organization]
Union Supply Group
[organization]
Wheeler Correctional Facility
[facility]