As Elon Musk and his DOGE cronies take a sledgehammer to federal agencies, corporate interests are mounting a coordinated effort to dismantle state rules and regulations — backing legislative efforts to kneecap state watchdogs’ ability to enforce everything from environmental protections to worker safeguards.
This means that as guardrails for consumers and workers are dismantled on a federal level, states are in danger of losing their ability to pick up the slack.
In fifteen states this year, according to a review by the Lever, lawmakers have introduced “judicial deference” laws, which would stack the deck against state regulators and allow corporate America to swiftly challenge and strip away state protections ranging from restrictions on pollution to consumer safeguards.
The legislation mimics the Supreme Court’s 2024 Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision that defanged federal regulators, with widespread consequences.
Ten of the bills include language that is nearly identical to model legislation authored by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a right-wing policy incubator that, with the assistance of private interests, is pushing to gut state regulators’ power around the country. In Missouri and Nevada, the bills have made it through one chamber; in Oklahoma, the legislation now awaits the governor’s signature.
The language, experts told the Lever, in some cases goes beyond the ruling of the Supreme Court’s conservative majority to even further constrain state regulators.
The coordinated push reveals how states are becoming a more important battleground than ever for the fight against corporate power and deregulation. If, for example, the embattled Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can’t protect…
Auteur: Katya Schwenk
