Republicans have been waging a push in recent months to pass bills weakening child labor protections. But even though these bills are being pushed across several states, a new investigation finds that a right-wing, Florida-based think tank is behind a large number of them — and that the think tank, in some cases, outright wrote the bills.

According to The Washington Post, the Foundation for Government Accountability and its lobbying arm, the Opportunity Solutions Project, are behind pushes for child labor bills introduced by Republicans in Arkansas, Iowa and Missouri.

The Republican sponsor of an Arkansas bill, now signed into law by Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said that the legislation “came to me from the Foundation [for] Government Accountability.” The law eliminates the requirement for children under 16 to show documentation of their age before being able to work, making it easier for employers to violate child labor laws and illegally employ and exploit immigrant children.

The Foundation for Government Accountability is also backing the passage of an Iowa bill that Senate Republicans worked […]