Group says Pennsylvania lawmakers using legislation written by lobbyists

The American Legislative Exchange Council has been writing legislation that Pennsylvania legislators have been passing off as their own work, according to a report from progressive advocacy group Keystone Progress.

Citing three specific bills, the group says its report finds “disturbing level of influence by corporate lobbyists.”

Bills introduced by reps in Bradford, Tigoa, York, Sullivan and Susquehanna counties were taken right from ALEC’s “Model Bills” website, the report says.

“We are not talking about legislators following a corporate agenda, there is nothing new in that,” Keystone Progress Chair Eileen Connelly said in a release.  “This is legislation which is used verbatim by legislators who pretend that they wrote these bills.”

Twenty-two of the 23 legislators identified in the report are with the GOP. The other is a Democrat. Keystone Progress says the link between the legislators and ALEC is influencing the political landscape. Here’s a link to the full report.