Kind of shocked that the absolute number is so low. The next area for research is figuring out a way to assess the magnitude of these laws’ actual effects, perhaps by measuring the number of individuals regulated, or the amount of money spent. Surely ALEC, corporations, and whatever the liberal version of ALEC is are on the lookout for laws that give them the most benefit.
Also, I expect this opinion will be unpopular, but I am not convinced that it’s necessarily a bad idea to have somebody with some expertise in an area draft the actual legislation, as opposed to (at best) an intelligent generalist who is trying in good faith to regulate an area that she’s had not quite enough briefing on and (at worst) a hayseed clownshoes state legislator who is convinced of his own moral rectitude.
