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A recent聽opinion piece聽by Apple鈥檚 CEO, Tim Cook, lamented Indiana鈥檚 new 'Religious Freedom Restoration Act' as what he characterized as a 鈥渨ave of legislation" which some claim is the result of the emerging power and reach of conservative "bill mills."

鈥淭here鈥檚 something very dangerous happening in states across the country. A wave of legislation, introduced in more than two dozen states, would allow people to discriminate against their neighbors,鈥� . 鈥淪ome, such as the bill enacted in Indiana last week that drew a national outcry and one passed in Arkansas, say individuals can cite their personal religious beliefs to refuse service to a customer or resist a state nondiscrimination law. Others are more transparent in their effort to discriminate.鈥�

Cook was referring to Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and聽his state's new "religious freedom" law, which gives business owners the right to聽decline serving customers based on religious grounds 鈥� in effect turning away LGBT customers 聽

Some Democrats and political analysts say that the "wave" Cook refers to is not originating with voters, but rather conservative "bill mills" that finance state legislators to attend educational conferences that may provide both unified ideas and prefabricated bills to take home. 聽Specifically, they see聽聽聽(ALEC) as the primary driver of conservative state laws.

But when asked whether聽ALEC was involved in supporting the聽Religious Freedom Restoration Act, ALEC spokesperson Bill Meierling聽responds: 鈥淲e do not work on firearms, marriage equality, immigration, any of those things people frequently say are ours.鈥澛�

Still, North Carolina state Rep.聽聽of (D) Durham says that ALEC聽is having a profound effect on how state legislators in his state are picking their targets.

"While ALEC may not be directly distributing the template legislation we鈥檙e seeing pop up all over the country, they are the primary conservative legislative exchange and are courting legislators at their educational seminars and conferences,"聽Mr. Meyer says in a phone interview.

聽was held in North Carolina.聽鈥淲hile nobody can say for sure where the next religious freedom law bill will pop up, it鈥檚 probably a safe bet to look at where their most recent national conferences were held and where the next one will be,鈥� says Meyer.聽

The last ALEC national conference was held in December in Washington, D.C. The next one coming up will be in San Diego, Calif., according to ALEC's Meierling.聽He describes the organization as "an exchange of legislators and entrepreneurs who come together to discuss policy.鈥�

A Source Watch report on the legislative authors of Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) shows many are also on the聽聽list. 聽Three of the bill's co-authors are also ALEC Task Force committee chairs, including Indiana state聽聽(R) of District 12, Sen. Jean Leising (R) of District 42, and聽Sen. Jim Buck (R) of District 21,聽according to Source Watch.

Other Democratic legislators say ALEC is shaping conservative legislation in their state. For example,聽Arizona state Sen. Steve Farley sees the non-profit group as a driver of debate on gun legislation and the recently aired idea of mandating church attendance in his state.

Both concepts were championed by Arizona state聽Sen. Sylvia Allen, (R) of Snowflake. While ALEC鈥檚 website does not currently list gun legislation as part of its national agenda, Mr. Farley points out that the organization once pushed the proliferation of state聽听濒补飞蝉.

Farley describes the comments by Senator Allen as "all part of a mindset that is driving one piece of bad gun legislation after another, not just here but nationally," he says. "This is the same mindset allowing businesses in Indiana to refuse service to the LGBT community. A culture of gun-toting, prejudice is consciously being spread all over the place and the聽聽(ALEC) is using leaders like Sylvia Allen to spread this legislative thinking."

Source Watch lists current and former Arizona politicians who are聽, including Sylvia Allen.

Meierling at ALEC responds that Senator Allen is not listed as an ALEC member, although Arizona has been the site of ALEC conferences.聽

鈥淎ll of our policy is essentially related to economic freedom, decreasing the cost of doing business and creating a stable and predictable business environment,鈥� Meierling says. 鈥淎s you might imagine, none of the things Senator Farley talked about have anything to do with a stable and predictable business environment. So it fits quite nicely that we鈥檙e not actually doing any of that.鈥�

Meierling adds, 鈥淟imited government, free market and Federalism 鈥� 聽if it doesn鈥檛 have to do with those three things we don鈥檛 do it.鈥�

"It鈥檚 semantics," says Michael J. Gerhardt, director of the Center for Law and Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He continues that " ALEC has a relationship with legislators and people in the Republican Party that strikes me as unhealthy.... This is very disconcerting to those following the pattern of influence by ALEC across the nation coming perhaps in part as a result of the educational conferences they hold for Republican legislators.鈥�

Meanwhile, in Virginia, the liberal advocacy group聽聽is attempting to 鈥淐lose the ALEC loophole鈥� via an ethics bill which which seeks to end the practice of allowing legislators to seek reimbursement 鈥� or scholarships 鈥� for travel to educational conferences, such as those offered by ALEC.

鈥淚t is our contention that no individual, legislator or not, is an expert on all things and it鈥檚 incumbent on each individual 鈥� particularly those who are elected leaders - to seek ongoing education,鈥� says Meierling, the ALEC spokesman. 鈥淥f course there鈥檚 this thing called human free will. So legislators are going to decide for themselves and decide on behalf of their constituents what is best for their specific community. But, how can they make the best decisions if they have no information? So we, we, encourage legislators to come and participate with us, even when they disagree, or agree.鈥�

Deborah Gerhardt, a law professor in North Carolina is fighting what she refers to as 鈥�" being offered in the North Carolina State Legislature concludes, 鈥淧eople don鈥檛 realize the magnitude of ALEC鈥檚 influence in legislatures all over the nation right now. We need more to come to light.鈥�