The State Policy Network (SPN) is a web of right-wing think tanks in states across the country.

Florida is home to two SPN right-wing think tanks: the James Madison Institute (JMI) and the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA). While JMI and FGA claim to be focused on issues important to the people of Florida, both push an extreme agenda dictated by their national right-wing funders and partners.

Despite both JMI and FGA's claims to be "nonpartisan," both have close ties to the Republican Party and have pushed for GOP priorities. JMI's chairman, Allan Bense, is a Republican former speaker of the Florida House. Among the keynote speakers at JMI's lavish 25th anniversary gala in 2013 were Republican Governor Rick Scott, Republican House Speaker Will Weatherford, and Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio. FGA, on the other hand, is led by Tarren Bragdon, a former Republican legislator from Maine. Additionally, FGAs government affairs director helps operate a Maine-based lobbying firm, through which he has taken thousands of dollars from health care providers that accept Medicaid, stimulus, and other government funds. Meanwhile, FGA has actively pushed for a Medicaid privatization scheme that critics say boosts corporate profits at the expense of patient care.

Both JMI and FGA have worked with the controversial American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), where corporate lobbyists and lawmakers come together behind closed doors to vote on "model" legislation that ends up benefiting the corporations' bottom lines. JMI has been a member of ALEC's Education Task Force, which focuses on privatizing public schools and attacking teachers' rights. FGA staff members have presented to ALEC's Health and Human Services Task Force and Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force.

JMI and FGA are not required to disclose their donors, and do not publish a list voluntarily. The identities of JMI and FGA's few known donors reveal the two organizations are largely funded by national right-wing foundations and ideologues. JMI has received over $1 million the Koch-funded Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund, in addition to over $83,000 directly from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation. Other major known JMI funders include the Wisconsin-based Bradley Foundation, the California-based Jaquelin Hume Foundation, and the American Petroleum Institute. The only known FGA funding sources include the State Policy Network and the Neal and Jane Freeman Foundation. Both JMI and FGA also have close connections to William A. Dunn, who owns an investment firm (Dunn Capital Management) in Florida and also runs a right-wing foundation (Dunns Foundation for the Advancement of Right Thinking). William Dunn serves on the FGAs board of directors. In addition, his wife, Rebecca, is a member of JMIs board of directors and Dunns foundation has given at least $335,000 to JMI between 2002 and 2011, making it one of JMIs largest known sources of income. Both JMI and FGA regularly push policies that would directly benefit their donors. In the case of Dunn, for instance, JMI has advocated the deregulation of Wall Street and investment firms and the repeal of the estate tax. JMI also pushed an agenda that would financially benefit the Koch brothers, including opposing cap-and-trade programs, lowering corporate taxes, and denying the science of climate change.

Defund and privatize Florida's public schools Block access to affordable healthcare for Florida families

Cut retirees' benefits and destroy public pensions Cut corporate taxes Protect corporations by making it harder for the families of Floridians killed or injured by defective products or by corporate neglect or malfeasance, to hold corporations fully accountable

JMI, accessed 11/3/2013 FGA, accessed 11/3/2013