A model act, also called a model law or a piece of model legislation, is a suggested example for a law, drafted centrally to be disseminated and suggested for enactment in multiple independent
legislature
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...
s. The motivation classically has been the hope of fostering more legal uniformity among
jurisdiction
Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels.
Jur ...
s, and
better practice in legislative wording, than would otherwise occur; another motivation sometimes has been
lobbying
In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agency, regulatory agencie ...
disguised under such ideals. Model laws can be intended to be enacted verbatim, to be enacted after minor modification, or to serve more as general guides for the legislatures.
Model laws are especially prevalent in
federation
A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...
s because the federal subjects (for example, states, provinces, or other subjects) are
autonomous or semi-autonomous but nonetheless can benefit from a substantial degree of uniformity of laws among jurisdictions. For example, in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, because the country consists of 50 semi-autonomous
states, each with its own legislature and
set of laws, avoidance of ''needless'' variation is valuable, reserving variation only to essential autonomous differences. There, model laws are referred to as ''model acts'' or ''model bills''. Many American special interest groups draft model acts which they
lobby
Lobby may refer to:
* Lobby (room), an entranceway or foyer in a building
* Lobbying, the action or the group used to influence a viewpoint to politicians
:* Lobbying in the United States, specific to the United States
* Lobby (food), a thick stew ...
lawmakers to pass. In particular, the conservative
American Legislative Exchange Council
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a nonprofit organization of conservative state legislators and private sector representatives who draft and share model legislation for distribution among state governments in the United State ...
(ALEC) has successfully gotten hundreds of model acts passed since 2010. ''Uniform acts'' are model acts intended to be enacted exactly as written. They are drafted by the
Uniform Law Commission
The Uniform Law Commission (ULC), also called the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, is a non-profit, American unincorporated association. Established in 1892, the ULC aims to provide U.S. states (plus the District of Co ...
(ULC), a state-run non-profit organization whose purpose is to draft laws in areas where uniformity is important (for example, to facilitate
interstate commerce
The Commerce Clause describes an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution ( Article I, Section 8, Clause 3). The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power "to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among ...
).
The concept isn't specific to federations, though; international organizations such as the
United Nations Commission on International Trade Law
The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) ( French: ''Commission des Nations Unies pour le droit commercial international (CNUDCI)'') is a subsidiary body of the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) responsible for helping to fa ...
, the
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, an ...
, and the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
have also written model laws to harmonize laws between different countries.
Although model acts inherently can serve valid purposes (such as for uniform
justice
Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...
, with less capriciousness), their distortion into disguised lobbying has been criticized. American critics of such model laws have thus referred to them as "copycat laws", "fill-in-the-blanks laws", and "copy-paste laws." The concept caused some controversy in 2019 when a coalition of 30 investigative journalists published a series called "Copy, Paste, Legislate", investigating the corporate interests behind many model laws.
American drafters of model law
Harry H. Laughlin's Model Eugenical Sterilization Law
One early example of a model law was eugenicist Harry H. Laughlin's Model Eugenical Sterilization Law. In 1922, he published the book ''Eugenical Sterilization in the United States'' whose purpose was to persuade state legislatures into passing sterilization laws, which it also did.
In chapter XV of the book he included the bill ''Model Eugenical Sterilization Law''. Two years later, Laughlin's sterilization act was enacted almost unmodified by the
Virginia Sterilization Act of 1924
The Virginia Sterilization Act of 1924 was a U.S. state law in Virginia for the sterilization of institutionalized persons "afflicted with hereditary forms of insanity that are recurrent, idiocy, imbecility, feeble-mindedness or epilepsy”. It ...
. The
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
upheld the constitutionality of the law in ''
Buck v. Bell
''Buck v. Bell'', 274 U.S. 200 (1927), is a decision of the United States Supreme Court, written by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., in which the Court ruled that a state statute permitting compulsory sterilization of the unfit, including th ...
'' in 1927, paving the way for similar sterilization laws in other states.
Uniform Law Commission
The non-profit Uniform Law Commission (ULC), formerly known as the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, was founded in 1892 to provide American jurisdictions with robust legislation. ULC promotes enactment of
uniform act
In the United States, a uniform act is a proposed state law drafted and approved by the Uniform Law Commission (ULC), also known as the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL).
Federalism in the United States traditi ...
s in areas of state law where uniformity is desirable and practical. ULC produces both model and uniform acts. Since its inception it has produced over 250 uniform acts.
ULC drafted the Model Tribal Secured Transactions Act in 2005 which served as a template for tribal legal infrastructure on reservations to provide consistency and greater accessibility in lending and credit transactions.
American Bar Association
The
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...
is an association of American lawyers and law students which has published a large number of model acts. Its most successful model law is probably the
Model Business Corporation Act
The Model Business Corporation Act (MBCA) is a Model Act promulgated and periodically amended by the Corporate Laws Committee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association (Committee). The MBCA had been adopted by 36 states and other ...
published in 1950. , the act is followed by 24 states. Another influential act ABA has drafted is the 1979 ''Model Procurement Code for State and Local Governments'', which had been adopted in full by 16 states and in part by several more. The act went through a major update in 2000.
Other model acts drafted by ABA include the Model Airspace Act in 1973,
and the Model Code for Public Infrastructure Procurement in 2007.
American Law Institute
The
American Law Institute
The American Law Institute (ALI) is a research and advocacy group of judges, lawyers, and legal scholars established in 1923 to promote the clarification and simplification of United States common law and its adaptation to changing social needs. ...
(ALI) is most famous for its ''
Restatements of the Law
In American jurisprudence, the ''Restatements of the Law'' are a set of treatises on legal subjects that seek to inform judges and lawyers about general principles of common law. There are now four series of ''Restatements'', all published by the ...
'' but has also produced model acts. A well-known example is the
Model Penal Code
The Model Penal Code (MPC) is a model act designed to stimulate and assist U.S. state legislatures to update and standardize the penal law of the United States.MPC (Foreword). The MPC was a project of the American Law Institute (ALI), and was pu ...
published in 1962 seeking to harmonize state
criminal law
Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law i ...
.
American Legislative Exchange Council
The
American Legislative Exchange Council
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a nonprofit organization of conservative state legislators and private sector representatives who draft and share model legislation for distribution among state governments in the United State ...
(ALEC) an American
nonprofit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
—whose members include
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
state legislators and
private sector
The private sector is the part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government.
Employment
The ...
representatives—is a prolific producer of model state-level laws for conservative causes. ALEC has deep ties to the
State Policy Network
The State Policy Network (SPN) is a nonprofit organization that serves as a network for conservative and libertarian think tanks focusing on state-level policy in the United States. The network serves as a public policy clearinghouse and advises ...
(SPN), an
umbrella organization
An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and ofte ...
for a
consortium
A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for ...
of
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
and
libertarian
Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...
think tank
A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...
s that focus on
state-level policy, which is one of ALEC's sponsors.
One of ALEC's earliest model acts were the 1981
Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act to prohibit acts that would make agricultural business operations more difficult. The act sought to impose harsh penalties, including a terrorism registry, on instances of
direct action
Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to oth ...
performed by organizations such as the
Animal Liberation Front
The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) is an international, Leaderless resistance, leaderless, decentralized political and social resistance movement that engages in and promotes non-violent direct action in protest against incidents of animal cruelt ...
.
ALEC's model acts concern many topics important to conservatives like
Stand Your Ground
A stand-your-ground law (sometimes called "line in the sand" or "no duty to retreat" law) provides that people may use deadly force when they reasonably believe it to be necessary to defend against certain violent crimes (right of self-defense) ...
, Voter ID,
illegal immigration
Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwar ...
,
truth in sentencing
Truth in sentencing (TIS) is a collection of different but related public policy stances on sentencing of those convicted of crimes in the justice system. In most contexts, it refers to policies and legislation that aim to abolish or curb parole so ...
,
three strikes,
right to know
Right to know is a human right enshrined in law in several countries. UNESCO defines it as the right for people to "participate in an informed way in decisions that affect them, while also holding governments and others accountable". It pursues ...
,
and cutting taxes. ALEC has drafted and distributed state-level legislation to limit It has also opposed the creation or expansion of
municipal broadband
Municipal broadband is broadband Internet access owned by public entities. Services are often provided either fully or partially by local governments to residents within certain areas or jurisdictions. Common connection technologies include unlice ...
networks.
ALEC has been very successful in getting its laws passed; according to Brendan Greeley, lawmakers introduce bills based on the organization's model acts about 1,000 times per year in state legislatures and about 200 of them become law.
In 2015, ALEC model bills were reflected in about 172 measures introduced in 42 states, according to the
Center for Media and Democracy
The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) is a progressive nonprofit watchdog and advocacy organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. CMD publishes ExposedbyCMD.org, SourceWatch.org, and ALECexposed.org.
History
CMD was founded in 1993 by progr ...
, publishers of the ALEC Exposed series.
ALEC has also been criticized for being funded by big corporations and over alleged underhandedness. ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' has described it as a "dating agency for Republican state legislators and big corporations" to "frame rightwing legislative agendas".
Notable model acts
Some notable model acts not drafted by the above-mentioned organizations:
*
National Notary Association
The National Notary Association (NNA) is an American organization at 9350 De Soto Avenue, Chatsworth, California, which provides education to and about notaries public. It is similar to the American Society of Notaries.
History
Originally the C ...
provided the draft for the Uniform Notary Act in 1973. It was renamed to the Model Notary Act and expanded in 1984, 2002, and 2010. The act has been adopted in its entirety in several jurisdictions.
* The
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...
issued the Revised Model Tribal Sex Offender Registry Code/Ordinance in 2017. It offered guidelines to American Indian tribes on how to implement the
Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act
The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act is a federal statute that was signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush on July 27, 2006. The Walsh Act organizes sex offenders into three tiers according to the crime committed, and mand ...
.
* The
National Association of Civil-Law Notaries issued the
Model Civil Law Notary Act to streamline law relating to
civil law notary
Civil-law notaries, or Latin notaries, are lawyers of noncontentious private civil law who draft, take, and record legal instruments for private parties, provide legal advice and give attendance in person, and are vested as public officers wit ...
. The act has been enacted in Alabama and Florida.
* The
National Association of Insurance Commissioners
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) is the U.S. standard-setting and regulatory support organization created and governed by the chief insurance regulators from the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territo ...
's issued the
Uniform Health Carrier External Review Model Act. The 2010
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presi ...
requires states to enact laws based on the model act.
* President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
wrote the Standard State Soil Conservation Districts Law, a model act he submitted to the states.
It led to the establishment of the
New York State Soil and Water Conservation Committee
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
on April 23, 1940, and the soil and water conservation districts were authorized with the enactment of the
Soil Conservation District Law, a law based on that model act.
* The
Tenther movement The Tenther movement is a social movement in the United States, whose adherents espouse the political ideology that the federal government's enumerated powers must be read very narrowly to exclude much of what the federal government already does, ...
in 2013 and 2014, introduced bills based on their model act the
Fourth Amendment Protection Act The Fourth Amendment Protection Acts, are a collection of state legislation aimed at withdrawing state support for bulk data (metadata) collection and ban the use of warrant-less data in state courts. They are proposed nullification laws that, if e ...
in several state legislatures via Republican and Democrat lawmakers. The intent of the bills was to prevent state governments from co-operating with the
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...
's
mass surveillance
Mass surveillance is the intricate surveillance of an entire or a substantial fraction of a population in order to monitor that group of citizens. The surveillance is often carried out by local and federal governments or governmental organizati ...
program.
* In 2006, the
National Auctioneers Association The National Auctioneers Association (NAA), founded in 1949, is an advocacy group representing auctioneers, auction
An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then se ...
proposed the
Uniform Auction and Auctioneer Licensing Act, model legislation governing auctions and auctioneers.
* The National Committee on Uniform Traffic Laws and Ordinances introduced and periodically updates
Uniform Vehicle Code
For driving in the United States, each state and territory has its own traffic code or rules of the road, although most of the rules of the road are similar for the purpose of uniformity, given that all states grant reciprocal driving privileges ( ...
.
*
Model State Emergency Health Powers Act
The Model State Emergency Health Powers Act (MSEHPA) is a public health act originally drafted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to aid the United States' state legislatures in revising their public health laws to control epidemics ...
, drafted by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...
in 1999.
*
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (officially abbreviated Fed. R. Civ. P.; colloquially FRCP) govern civil procedure in United States district courts. The FRCP are promulgated by the United States Supreme Court pursuant to the Rules Enabling ...
(FRCP), published in 1938 to harmonize the rules governing
civil procedure
Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits (as opposed to procedures in criminal law matters). These rules govern how a lawsuit or case may be commenced; what ki ...
. 35 states have adopted rules based on FRCP.
* Partisanship Out of Civics Act (POCA), published in February 2021 by the
National Association of Scholars
The National Association of Scholars (NAS) is an American non-profit politically conservative advocacy organization, with a particular interest in education. It opposes a perceived political correctness on college campuses and supports a return ...
(NAS) by
Stanley Kurtz Stanley Kurtz is an American conservative commentator, author and a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He has taught at Harvard University and the University of Chicago. He is also a contributing editor to ''National Review''.
Ca ...
—''
National Review
''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief i ...
'' education writer and Senior Fellow at the
Ethics and Public Policy Center
The Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) is a conservative, Washington, D.C.-based think tank and advocacy group. Founded in 1976, the group describes itself as "dedicated to applying the Judeo-Christian moral tradition to critical issues of pu ...
—to limit the teaching of
critical race theory
Critical race theory (CRT) is a cross-disciplinary examination, by social and civil-rights scholars and activists, of how laws, social and political movements, and media shape, and are shaped by, social conceptions of race and ethnicity. Goa ...
in schools. This model bill, particularly Section 7—which specifically bans certain concepts—has been incorporated into state legislation in Idaho, Oklahoma, Iowa, Tennessee, Texas, Florida, Montana, Utah, Georgia, and South Carolina.
International model laws
An example of an international model law is the
UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration
The UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration is a model law prepared by UNCITRAL, and adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on 21 June 1985. In 2006, it was amended and now includes more detailed pr ...
.
"Copy, Paste, Legislate"
In 2019, a team of 30 reporters from the
Center for Public Integrity
The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) is an American nonprofit investigative journalism organization whose stated mission is "to reveal abuses of power, corruption and dereliction of duty by powerful public and private institutions in order to c ...
(CPI), ''
USA TODAY
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'', and ''
The Arizona Republic
''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $3 ...
'' published the result of a two-year-long investigation into model acts entitled "Copy, Paste, Legislate".
The investigation raised concerns over the role of ALEC and other corporate-sponsored organizations on the American legislative process.
The investigation used text analysis software called Legislative Influence Detector created by Joe Walsh, a former data scientist at the University of Chicago to spot similarities between model acts and enacted legislation. Its main finding was that during the period 2010 to 2018 lawmakers had introduced bills based on model acts at least 10,000 times. Another 10,000 bills were likely copied but were more dissimilar. The investigation identified over 2,100 model acts but speculated that the real number is far higher since many organizations keep their model acts secret. In many states, the use of model bills was found to have supplanted the traditional way of writing legislation "from scratch".
Mississippi was found to be the state with the highest number of bills introduced based on model acts, 744 - 200 more than the next highest state. 288 came from the non-partisan
Council of State Governments
The Council of State Governments (CSG) is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization in the United States that serves all three branches of state government.
Founded in 1933 by Colorado state Sen. Henry W. Toll, CSG is a region-based forum that ...
and 255 from ALEC. But only 57 of them became law, according to the investigation.
Open recall disclosure
The "Copy, Paste, Legislate" investigation uncovered a legal initiative by the car industry to enact laws that would require dealers to disclose if a bought used car were under open recall, something most states don't require. The car industry's initiative was in response to other legal initiatives that called for banning the sales of used cars under open recall entirely.
The first bill produced by the initiative was introduced in 2014 by New Jersey Speaker,
Paul D. Moriarty
Paul D. Moriarty (born September 25, 1956) is an American Democratic Party politician who represents the 4th Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly since taking office on January 10, 2006. He served as the Assembly's Deputy Sp ...
and called for "a fine for failing to disclose open recalls to customers."
It was based on model law that had been crafted by a lobbyist who headed the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers. The lobbyist said that their "model legislation" provided "suggested language" and was never intended to be a copy-and-paste exercise."
Similar model legislation was drafted by the Washington, D.C.-based
Automotive Trade Association Executives (ATAE), representing over 100 "executives from regional auto dealer associations".
The bill allowed dealers to continue selling recalled cars as long as they disclosed open recalls.
The dealers worked with over 600 lobbyists in 43 states to assist in getting the legislation passed.
From 2014 through 2019, lawmakers in eleven states introduced similar bills into their state legislatures.
"Right-to-try"
The libertarian Arizona-based
Goldwater Institute
The Goldwater Institute is a conservative and libertarian public policy think tank located in Phoenix whose stated mission is "to defend and strengthen the freedom guaranteed to all Americans in the constitutions of the United States and all fift ...
, drafted the "
right-to-try" law that was signed into law in Ohio in 2016 by then-Governor
John Kasich
John Richard Kasich Jr. ( ; born May 13, 1952) is an American politician, author, and television news host who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 2001 and as the 69th governor of Ohio from 2011 to 2019. A Republican, Kasic ...
. It allows patients with terminal illnesses to try drugs that the federal
Food and Drug Administration
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...
has not approved. The law was passed on the federal level in 2018.
Anti-BDS laws
The "Copy, Paste, Legislate" investigation also documented the
Israel lobby's largely successful attempts to get statehouses to pass legislation to curb the Palestinian-led
BDS movement
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a Palestinian-led movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel. Its objective is to pressure Israel to meet what the BDS movement describes as Israel's obligations u ...
. BDS calls for comprehensive boycotts of Israel until it stops its human rights violations against Palestinians. The legislation that the Israel lobby promotes requires state contractors to pledge not to boycott Israel and state pension funds to divest from entities that do.
One of the first anti-BDS law was sponsored by Republican lawmaker
Alan Clemmons who introduced it in 2015. He worked with the
Israeli-American Coalition for Action's (AIC) Joe Sabag, his "buddy and wordsmith-in-chief", to prepare the bill.
Eugene Kontorovich, a
George Mason University
George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was origin ...
law professor, assisted in drafting the legislation. He also helped other states with their anti-BDS laws and frequently defends their constitutionality in the media.
By May 2019, 25 other states had adopted similar measures. Many of the bills shared exact wording.
The anti-BDS initiatives, undertaken by activist groups concerned about the rise of
antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
, such as the
Jewish Federations of North America
The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), formerly the United Jewish Communities (UJC), is an American Jewish umbrella organization representing 146 Jewish Federations and 300 independent Jewish communities across North America, which rais ...
(JFNA) and the Israeli-American Coalition for Action, have been largely successful in pushing the anti-boycott legislation through state legislatures, according to a two-year collaborative investigative journal report. A JFNA lobbyist wrote the "anti-boycott executive order and news release" for the governor of Louisiana.
A pro-Israel lobbyist closely helped edit the bill and guided the lawmaker who introduced and supported the anti-boycott legislation in Nevada.
See also
*
Conflict of laws
Conflict of laws (also called private international law) is the set of rules or laws a jurisdiction applies to a case, transaction, or other occurrence that has connections to more than one jurisdiction. This body of law deals with three broad t ...
*
EU Harmonization, a somewhat similar concept in European Union law
*
Model State Constitution
*
Project Blitz Project Blitz is a coalition of over 40 Christian right groups, including the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation, the National Legal Foundation, and Wallbuilders Pro-Family Legislators Conference. Founded by Randy Forbes, the group states that ...
References
{{Law
*
Law of the United States