TRENTON — New Jersey lawmakers have borrowed repeatedly from a conservative bill-writing group whose model legislation has spurred protests across the nation this year, according to a report to be released today by four liberal advocacy groups.

The groups — Common Cause, People for the American Way Foundation, Progress Now and the Center for Media and Democracy — found 22 bills drafted since 2010 were based on model legislation by the Washington-based American Legislative Exchange Council.

The report, obtained by The Star-Ledger, found seven of those bills are perfect matches or carry multiple identical passages from ALEC models. None of the bills have been passed.

The report's findings raise new questions about ALEC's influence in New Jersey. A Star-Ledger investigation in April found some of Gov. Chris Christie's biggest legislative proposals and other measures sponsored by lawmakers closely resembled ALEC bills. Christie and the sponsors denied any connection. Two of the bills written by the governor's policy advisers on charter schools and teacher tenure are also cited in the new report, along with two Republican bills on union benefits and charter schools.

Records show that Christie’s advisers and lawmakers occasionally consult ALEC, a nonprofit group focused on cutting business regulations and government spending. Nearly 2,000 state lawmakers across the country, including six New Jersey Republicans, are members, along with hundreds of companies and conservative advocacy groups. ALEC says it is an educational resource for lawmakers that promotes fiscal restraint and transparency and common-sense policies.

But it has lost more than 40 corporate members this year, including New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson and Merck, after the report’s authors and other groups highlighted its role pushing bills that toughen voter-identification requirements and allow more deadly force in self-defense. Meanwhile, Common Cause has filed a complaint with the IRS saying ALEC is a lobbying group that should lose its tax-exempt status.

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"ALEC represents a pay-to-play system at its worst," said Bob Edgar, president of Common Cause. "What is even more disturbing than the unparalleled influence that ALEC and the powerful corporations behind it have in our state legislatures is that ALEC has managed to amass this power and influence at taxpayers’ expense by masquerading as a tax-exempt charity."

According to the report, "ALEC has flourished in Republican-dominated states, but it has a less obvious presence in New Jersey’s Democratic-controlled state legislature." A small group of New Jersey lawmakers "has had great success in introducing ALEC models, but thankfully they have seen little movement toward passing those bills into law."

The authors detail similarities between New Jersey bills and ALEC models. Some of the bills share identical passages spanning dozens or hundreds of words, including:

• The New Jersey Jobs Protection Act (S240) and a similar bill (S164), which would require all employers to verify whether their workers are legally qualified to work in the United States. The report said they were "taken nearly word for word from ALEC’s Fair and Legal Employment Act, which is also incorporated in ALEC’s longer and more thorough No Sanctuary Cities for Illegal Immigrants Act — the infamous model legislation that was introduced in Arizona … and led to protests across the country and a showdown at the Supreme Court."

• ACR103, which would allow a two-thirds majority in the state Legislature to nullify any federal law or regulation. It’s sponsored by Assemblywoman Amy Handlin (R-Monmouth) and Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-Morris), co-chairman of ALEC’s state chapter. Handlin, who has said she is not an ALEC member, and Webber declined to comment.

• The New Jersey Parental Rights Program Act (S504), which would create a publicly funded scholarship program for students attending certain types of private or religious schools.

Other bills in the report carry the same concept from ALEC blueprints, but only a few examples of similar bill language. These include a bipartisan bill sponsored by Democrats from the previous session (S480) that would limit an appeal bond in civil actions to $50 million. Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Union), the sponsor, said the bill was crafted to address New Jersey issues and he got ideas from tort reform advocates and not ALEC.

And some of the bills are only similar in concept. The authors said three bills that would repeal or encourage the repeal of New Jersey’s prevailing wage laws "indicate a clear ALEC imprint."

Republicans challenged the report’s findings and denied ALEC had any influence in the Statehouse.

"If there are any similarities in the way that bills are worded, it’s because there are only so many ways you can write legislation, and very frequently we get ideas from other states and we look at their statutes," said Adam Bauer, a spokesman for Senate Republicans. "From what I’ve read, it’s in fashion for liberal groups to go after ALEC for being funded by companies they don’t like. I can assure you there’s no conspiracy here."

Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said no model bills were used, only common policy ideas supported by Democrats including U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

"These were reforms happening commonly across the country" with bipartisan support, Drewniak said.

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ALEC’s two co-chairmen for New Jersey, Webber and Sen. Steven Oroho (R-Sussex), have publicly denied using ALEC models, as has Handlin. Spokesmen for the Democratic and Republican caucuses have also said ALEC plays no role in the Statehouse.

Jeff Spatola, Oroho’s chief of staff, said some of the bills attached to Oroho in the report were written by other lawmakers and not solely sponsored by the senator.

"ALEC is by and large a conservative organization. They have principles the senator is going to support because he is a conservative legislator," he said. "Will there be similarities? Yes. Was there any coordination on drafting bills? No."

Some state lawmakers and lobbying and ethics officials have called for more disclosure for ALEC bills. It is legal to introduce any model legislation without disclosing the source.

"They’ve been tremendously successful at pushing their agenda," said Michael Keegan, president of People for the American Way Foundation. "Now that people know who ALEC is and what they represent, it’s a lot harder — and many companies rightly don’t want to be associated with it anymore."

ALEC has decried what it calls a well-funded campaign to shame its corporate members into leaving the group, saying critics are attempting to silence a conservative voice that breaks no laws.

Bauer said the report is much ado about nothing.

"For anything in the Legislature to be enacted, it’s got to have a public vetting," he said. "It has to go through committee hearings and has to go through a Democratic-controlled Legislature. Who cares what the similarities are? … This is a bunch of liberal groups trying to make hay about something they don’t like, in an election year."

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