In early December, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) held its annual States & Nation Policy Summit in downtown Washington, D.C., bringing together conservative politicians, think tanks, and corporate lobbyists to plan for the 2025 legislative session.
The attendees at the upscale Grand Hyatt Washington hotel had more reasons to be buoyant than conservatives’ gains in the 2024 elections. The 501(c)3 nonprofit ALEC boosted its revenues in 2023 by 11% over the year prior, according to its tax return filed in November, setting a new all-time annual revenue high for the group of $11.3 million.
The influential ALEC operates as a membership organization, bankrolled by industry donors and conservative "dark money" networks, that develops and spreads model policies for legislatures to adopt, from defending fossil fuels to restricting voting access. Some speakers at the latest summit included DOGE co-leader Vivek Ramaswamy, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, and the now-retired chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.). (As a nonprofit, ALEC is ostensibly nonpartisan, but virtually all ALEC legislators are Republicans.)
After Donald Trump’s presidential win, ALEC’s CEO Lisa B. Nelson hailed it as a “clear victory,” saying that its members looked forward to working with Washington to “return power to the states where it belongs.” Weeks later, Nelson cheered his selection of oil and gas company executive Chris Wright to be secretary of the Department of Energy. Wright had addressed ALEC’s summer conference, where she says he “explained that energy is not just about convenience; it’s about survival and growth.” Trump ran on promoting unchecked fossil fuel drilling and rolling back environmental protections.
One ALEC model policy that was finalized in December is a resolution for counties to express support for propane and natural gas in new residential and commercial buildings. Michigan state Rep. Phil Green chairs ALEC’s Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force alongside Matthew Kiessling, a senior director for state affairs at the American Gas Association.