Washington, D.C. — Following news that the Michigan House of Representatives has voted 80-28 to advance HB 4052 and HB 4053, a bill that would ban lawmakers and their staff from entering into nondisclosure agreements—which are often used to push through corporate subsidy deals in secret—the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“For years, big corporations have used NDAs to pit cities and states against one another in subsidy bidding wars, while locking local communities out of decisions about how their tax dollars are spent,” said Pat Garofalo, Director of State and Local Policy at the American Economic Liberties Project. “By moving to ban this corrupt tactic, Michigan lawmakers are taking an important step to ensure taxpayers, local businesses, and workers have a say in the economic development deals that shape their communities. We applaud the bill’s sponsors for their leadership and urge the Michigan Senate to swiftly pass this critical legislation.”

The American Economic Liberties Project is a founding member of Ban Secret Deals, a bipartisan coalition to eliminate nondisclosure agreements in economic development deals.

To learn more about the ways NDA-covered economic development deals harm local communities, read “Ban Secret Deals: How Secret Corporate Subsidy Deals Harm Communities and What to Do About It” and visit BanSecretDeals.Org.

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.