The American Legislative Exchange Council, the corporate lobbying group
known for pushing the "Stand Your Ground” gun legislation that factored into the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida, may be getting into a new line of business: planning and zoning. After the furor over “Stand Your Ground” as well as a similar effort to encourage tougher voter ID rules in many states, David Frizzell, an Indiana state representative and chairman of ALEC, announced the
disbanding of the group’s Public Safety and Elections task force and promised to return the organization's focus strictly to the economy. The economy is a big playing field for ALEC’s conservative, free-market and limited-government message, however, and it appears that land use regulations at the state and local level are now in its cross-hairs. In Massachusetts, a
recent economic development bill contained the following bit of language that was just unusual enough to attract the attention of legislative staff
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