FFC Encourages Google To Leave ALEC

FFC has joined with dozens of leading corporations, investors, and non-profit organizations calling for Google to sever its ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. Over the past few filing seasons, FFC has continually and successfully advocated for greater disclosures of lobbying and membership expenditures in order to promote corporate transparent and greater alignment of publicly stated corporate values and corporate funding of industry organizations advocating directly against those values. Just last proxy season, FFC co-filed a shareholder resolution with VISA asking the company to disclose its lobbying policies and its membership in industry organizations like ALEC. Our advocacy was successful. VISA withdrew from ALEC and agreed to greater lobbying disclosures prompting FFC to withdraw our resolution. ALEC has drawn opposition from numerous advocacy organizations and investors for their shadow, opaque operations and the inherent lack of transparency this creates for their corporate members. On behalf of its members, ALEC pushes for defunding of public services, curtailing of labor rights, climate change denial and they oppose net neutrality. Google has been outspoken in support of climate risk concerns and has publicly pushed for net neutrality. We believe that membership in ALEC contradicts Google’s public positions on these important issues, and poses reputational risk for the company. To view the letter, click here