Aides on ALEC task forces keep detailed, color-coded spreadsheets on "good bills" and "problematic bills" in all 50 states, and they regularly send e-mails to alert legislators about ones that ALEC opposes or supports.
More problematic, the bill allowed states to set their own standards, so some states were quick to lower them to avoid penalties.
He goes through last year's energy bills, which reminds me how problematic electronic billing can be if you're not organised enough to download and keep all your bills.
That provision proved particularly problematic for the bill's Republican opponents, who feared it would alarm female voters.
The Trudeau government campaigned on a promise to overhaul the "problematic" aspects of Bill C-51, but still hasn't said exactly what it will change.
According to its campaign platform, the new Liberal government will repeal "problematic elements of Bill C-51" (even though the party also voted for it during the last session of Parliament).
When I asked Nick Little the legal director for the Center for Inquiry, a nonprofit organization that advocates for freedom of speech he told me it was "constitutionally problematic," since the bill seeks "to ban people taking photos in places they are allowed to be".
According to the platform, the Liberals would "repeal the problematic elements of Bill-C-51" and bring in new legislation that "better balances" civil liberties.
"The more things move into the presidential election year," Mr. Hartle added, "the more the long-term fate of any reauthorization bill becomes problematic".
Problematic aspects of the bill also mean that Congress will be forced to revisit the issue in the medium term.
