National Groups Build Statehouse Coalitions Across the Northeast

NewsWK — State legislatures across the country are increasingly serving as testing grounds for coordinated policy battles, as progressive organizers adopt long-standing conservative strategies to draft and pass legislation across state lines.

For communities across Bennington County and neighboring border areas in eastern New York and western Massachusetts, the shifting dynamic highlights how multi-state coalitions are shaping the local laws debated in state capitols from Montpelier to Albany and Boston.

Why it matters here

Residents in southwestern Vermont live in a region closely tied to three different statehouses. Decisions made in Montpelier, Albany, and Boston affect everything from labor standards and tax policies to civil rights and interactions with federal authorities.

Because many state lawmakers serve in part-time citizen legislatures, access to shared policy research and coordinated drafting networks plays a growing role in determining which bills get introduced and passed. When coordinated legislative packages spread across state lines, they directly influence the public policy governing daily life, local courts, and community services in our area.

Emulating the conservative playbook

For decades, conservative state lawmakers have collaborated through organizations such as the American Legislative Exchange Council, known as ALEC. Founded in 1973, ALEC includes more than 2,000 legislative members, representing nearly a quarter of all state lawmakers in the country, and has influenced state statutes through model bills addressing taxation, labor, and education.

Now, progressive organizers are deliberately studying that model to create durable, nationwide networks for Democratic lawmakers. Gaby Goldstein, founder and president of the nonprofit State Futures, works with hundreds of state legislators on multi-state policy efforts.

“One of the things the right has known for decades is that by moving state policy, you move national policy,” Goldstein said.

ALEC leaders say the growing interest from the left reflects a broader recognition of state power. Jonathan Williams, president and chief economist of ALEC, noted that policy change increasingly starts in state legislatures rather than Washington.

“There’s lots of groups out there that have tried to replicate ALEC from the left,” Williams said. “And there is some irony… that a lot of the left wanted to take ALEC out there for many years, and now they want to join in and try to replicate it.”

Coordinated legislative efforts

The push for progressive statehouse coordination has gained momentum through specific policy packages. This year, State Futures worked with lawmakers across 35 states who introduced nearly 250 measures focused on placing limits on federal immigration enforcement.

Similarly, the State Innovation Exchange, or SiX, coordinates with approximately 1,800 state lawmakers across all 50 states. The organization recently organized a multi-state legislative effort allowing residents to bring civil suits against federal immigration agents for alleged constitutional violations, pointing to existing statutory models in Connecticut, Maryland, and Rhode Island.

Lawmakers in states including Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Utah, and Washington have indicated plans to pursue similar measures. According to data from the American Civil Liberties Union, no federal immigration agent has ever been convicted of criminal wrongdoing while on duty, leading state legislators to look toward state civil remedies instead.

Background and structural hurdles

Efforts to build lasting progressive infrastructure across statehouses have developed over more than a decade:

• In 2012, liberal activists established the American Legislative and Issue Campaign Exchange in Wisconsin to counter conservative influence following major state labor overhauls.
• In 2014, that organization merged with other groups to form the State Innovation Exchange to share policy research nationwide.
• In 2017, the States Project was formed to fund state legislative campaigns and help part-time lawmakers navigate complex policy proposals.

Despite recent coordination, political scientists note that progressive groups face substantial structural differences compared to their conservative counterparts. Nationwide, Republican lawmakers hold nearly 55 percent of the country’s 7,386 state legislative seats, controlling all legislative chambers in 28 states.

Peverill Squire, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Missouri, pointed out that conservative groups have historically united around a concise agenda focused on deregulation and tax reductions. By comparison, progressive coalitions balance a wider array of distinct policy goals, which can make uniform national model legislation more difficult to sustain over time.

What to watch next

As state legislative sessions prepare for upcoming budget and statutory debates, lawmakers in Vermont and adjacent states will continue to draw on national networks for model bill language and legal research. How effectively these multi-state coalitions navigate local priorities will determine their long-term footprint in regional statehouses.

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