Legislative & Public Policy

Experience Highlights

• Former senior US national security officials in proceedings of the US House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
• Secured amendments to the House and Senate versions of the Secure 5G and Beyond Act on behalf of a client to require the President to conduct a strategic plan examining the economic impact of Chinese telecommunications equipment and services on the US industrial base.
• Represented a Fortune 100 consumer goods corporation, in advancing the company's legislative agenda before the California State Legislature, including ingredient disclosure, recycling, and privacy issues.
• Secured Medicare coverage for a client’s breakthrough medical device through a coordinated congressional and agency effort.
• Advised and successfully advocated for the inclusion of $3 billion for aviation worker relief under the CARES Act on behalf of an airlines ground support services client.
• Represent the world’s largest electric vehicle charging network operator on policy issues impacting the deployment of alternative fuel vehicles, and led a coalition that successfully advocated for inclusion of a billion dollar multiyear grant program in House and Senate surface transportation legislation pending in the 116th Congress.
• Coordinated successful advocacy campaign to delay the effective date of Section 301 tariffs based on shipment times, resulting in millions of dollars saved for a client.
• Advocating for the creation of a stabilization fund to support the early care and learning industry affected by the COVID-19 national emergency.
• Represented a broad-based business coalition of 85 major trade and professional associations, following September 11th in fashioning and securing enactment of a Federal terrorism insurance backstop to the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (TRIA) and in subsequent TRIA reauthorization campaigns; most recently the successful 2019 reauthorization.
• Advised life sciences companies and private equity investment firms concerning COVID-19 Congressional inquiries.
• Life science companies and private equity investment firms in oversight hearings and congressional inquiries regarding COVID-19 responses.
• Spearhead amendments to the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 to include untrustworthy optical transmission components on a list of telecommunications and services that could be subject to limitations in US communications networks.
• Assisted the nation’s largest state automobile dealer association regarding a broad range of legislative proposals impacting the retail sale and lease of new vehicles.
• Representing manufacturers of pharmaceuticals, biologics, and diagnostic tests on various COVID-19 related matters, including securing critical infrastructure designations, federal funding, supply chain and other matters.
• Aided a client in securing billions of dollars in COVID-19 relief funding to support the childcare industry.
• On behalf of a manufacturing client, inserted language into Senate Finance Committee-passed legislation amending the tax credit for nonbusiness energy property.
• Obtained critical clarifications to the Trump Administration's implementation of steel Section 232 exclusions and quotas on behalf of a steel producer.
• Advocating for securing education technology as an eligible use under the Education Stabilization Fund to support students, school districts, and institutions of higher education transitioning to online instruction in response to COVID-19.
• Represented a major real estate trade association in preparing strategic plan for TRIA reauthorization in 2019-2020.
• Advised and successfully advocated for the inclusion of $3 billion for aviation worker relief under the CARES Act on behalf of an airlines ground support services client.
• Bill Taylor, a former US ambassador, in congressional testimony in connection with the 2019 presidential impeachment proceedings.
• Secured language in the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act to increase funding for DOD 5G research and development programs by $270 million, including a specific directive to build a 5G R&D facility.
• Counseled a publicly traded cannabinoid company regarding a legislative proposal to legalize the sale of industrial hemp products and to establish a regulatory framework for adult -use cannabis.
• Secured reauthorization of a Health Resources and Services Administration workforce program in the COVID-19 relief legislation.
• Assisted numerous higher education clients in securing relief funds and Title IV regulatory waivers under the CARES Act.
• Facilitated amendment of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, Congress’s first major update for the TSCA law on behalf of a consumer product manufacturer, and organized key report language and legislative history to influence regulatory proceedings implementing the Act.
• Secured favorable guidance and new procedures from the Customs and Border Protection to protect entries from being liquidated while a Section 232 exclusion request was pending.
• Represents a major multinational insurer before Congress and the Executive Branch on a wide range of legislative and regulatory issues that would affect their trading position in the United States. Among current work, implementation of rules relating to private flood insurance; the 2019 reauthorization of the TRIA; potential revisions to federal Surety Bond Program regulations; and pandemic response proposals.
• Advising a client participating in a public-private partnership with the US Department of Agriculture to provide one million meals a week to students in rural schools affected by school closures due to COVID-19.
• Advocated for the creation of a multibillion stabilization fund to support the early care and learning industry affected by the COVID-19 national emergency.
• Lisa Page, a former senior FBI official, before the House Judiciary and House Oversight and Reform Committees and Senate Select Committee on Intelligence regarding the bureau's investigations into Hillary Clinton's email server and Russian interference in the US election.
• Advised an internet infrastructure provider and worked to secure a favorable political environment necessary to successfully amend and extend a significant contract extension with the Department of Commerce.
• Aided the nation's largest producer of construction aggregates, in advancing the company's legislative agenda before the California State Legislature and various regulatory agencies regarding environmental and transportation funding and infrastructure.
• Blocked a nearly 70 percent payment reduction for in-home EEG services through an integrated legislative and regulatory strategy, including direct advocacy and coalition building.
• Secured $32.6 million increase for a STEM research program in the FY 2019 Department of Defense appropriations bill to provide funding for a nationwide scholarship program, which resulted in a $9 million grant for our client.
• Advise a leading original equipment manufacturer on environmental issues associated with autonomous vehicle and automated driving system legislation and regulatory issues.
• Provided a large US distributor with comprehensive support for tariff exclusion requests, including developing Section 301 exclusion requests, combined with bipartisan and bicameral congressional letters of support complimenting such requests.
• Represented a major multinational insurer in connection with Dodd-Frank Act Title V and subsequent successful efforts to secure a US-EU "covered agreement" on insurance/reinsurance prudential matters.
• Advocating successfully for multiple clients to include various financial aid priorities in the House Higher Education Act reauthorization package, such as: (1) a one-time Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) proposal, (2) the removal of origination fees, (3) preservation of undergraduate loan subsidies, (4) applicability of remaining Pell Grant eligibility for graduate education, (5) simplification of repayment plans, and (6) increased funding for the Federal Supplemental Opportunity Grant and campus child care programs.
• Secured Medicare coverage for a client's breakthrough medical device through a coordinated congressional and agency effort.
• Global furniture retailer in responding to congressional inquiries into consumer safety policies at issue in concurrent litigation.
• Guided clients through the development of bipartisan and bicameral internet privacy legislation in the 116th Congress.
• Worked with a leading energy production company in successfully advocating before the California Legislature regarding legislation that would have established an unprecedented form of absolute liability on product manufacturers.
• Represented pharmaceutical manufacturers through Congressional investigations and oversight hearings related to pricing, patents, and innovation in current and prior Congresses.
• Sustained $40 million for the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the FY 2018 and 2019 Military Construction/Veterans Affairs appropriations bills, despite a proposed cut of more than 50% in the Administration’s budget request.
• Advise North America’s largest water heating and water technology manufacturer on energy efficiency legislation and regulatory policy.
• Advised large steel producers on foreign market development and direct investment through coordinated awareness campaigns.
• Represents a major insurance trade association in developing strategy relating to the regulatory implementation of private flood insurance acceptance requirements in a manner that achieves the client’s goals, and drafted proposed regulations and executive order designed to implement this strategy. Our team’s efforts further refined the product to secure a broad industry consensus on the proposal culminating in multiagency advocacy that ultimately produced a promulgated final rule that achieved much of the client’s goals.
• Advising clients on the US Department of Education’s regulatory actions and rulemakings on accreditation, competency-based education, distance learning, Title IX, borrower defense, and foreign gift reporting.
• Represented pharmaceutical manufacturers through congressional investigations and oversight hearings related to pricing, patents, and innovation in current and prior Congresses.
• Nonprofit veterans service organization in connection with a Senate committee investigation into corporate governance and program expenditures.
• Advised multiple clients on legal and regulatory issues associated with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
• Assisted a national beverage association in providing lobbying counsel before the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment in connection with a proposal to exempt coffee from California Proposition 65.
• Worked with healthcare systems to secure enactment of legislative reforms that support coordination of care provided to medically complex children.
• Secured $10 million in the House FY 2020 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies appropriations bill for the creation of a new cohort for the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and similar report language in the Senate L-HHS appropriations in support of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) establishing the cohort.
• Represent a manufacturer in connection with implementation of a land transfer initiative with the US Army Corps of Engineers and successfully lobbied Congress to facilitate that transfer as part of the Water Resources Development Act of 2018.
• Executed an appropriations strategy to address the trade policy priorities of large steel producers.
• Engaging congressional offices to have the Department of Homeland Security reverse its action that affected the enrollment of international students at an institution of higher education.
• Represents a major insurance trade association in connection with preparation of pandemic response proposals in both chambers of Congress.
• Advised multiple clients on legal and regulatory issues associated with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
• Global pharmaceutical company in responding to multiple House and Senate investigations into drug pricing and in preparing the CEO and other company officials for congressional testimony.
• Secured legislative language benefiting two clients as part of a developing bipartisan discussion draft for comprehensive autonomous vehicle legislation.
• Represented a joint powers agency of publicly-owned electric utilities that provide electricity to over two million customers in Southern California in advancing its legislative agenda on energy issues, including legislation that will require utilities to procure 100 percent of their energy from zero carbon resources by 2045.
• Coordinated with other stakeholders, secured passage of legislation permanently repealing the excise tax on medical device manufacturers and importers.
• Obtained report language in the House and Senate FY 2020 Transportation-Housing and Urban Development appropriations bills related to nondestructive testing research at the Federal Aviation Administration, on behalf of a university.
• Develop congressional and regulatory policy to incentivize adoption of water filtration technology in the residential marketplace, on behalf of a leading direct-to-consumer manufacturer of water filtration solutions.
• Provided strategic advice and executed advocacy campaigns for large steel producers navigating complex issues related to Section 232 trade legislation, regulations and negotiations.
• Guiding clients on responding to Congressional inquiries about student borrowers and student data privacy.
• Represented a mid-sized bank subject to FDIC macroprudential supervision in connection with the proposed increase of the SIFI asset threshold from $50 billion to $250 billion in the Senate Dodd-Frank 2018 reform bill, S. 2155.
• Represented a broad-based business coalition of 85 major trade and professional associations, following September 11 in fashioning and securing enactment of a federal terrorism insurance backstop to the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (TRIA) and in subsequent TRIA reauthorization campaigns; most recently the successful 2019 reauthorization.
• Retailer as subject of concurrent congressional and investigative journalist inquiries into cosmetic product safety.
• Championed an amendment to the SELF DRIVE Act, directing the Department of Transportation to create a Federal Advisory Committee that would evaluate the impact of electrification of the transportation economy on the development of autonomous vehicle technology and the intersection between the two industries.
• Helped one of the world's leading manufacturers of residential and commercial water heaters and boilers in advancing the company's policy agenda before the California Legislature, the California Energy Commission, and the California State Water Resources Control Board, regarding building electrification and water quality issues.
• Secured language in the House FY 2020 MilCon-VA appropriations bill to support a $2 million pressure ulcer prevention pilot program that uses the client’s technology.
• Secured report language in the House FY 2020 Military Construction/Veterans Affairs appropriations bill on veterans’ access to healthcare for a foreign sovereign client.
• On behalf of the world’s largest electric vehicle charging network operator, advocate for expansion and improvement of the alternative fuel vehicle refueling property credit to better reflect the realities of today’s market.
• Coordinated an advocacy campaign to raise awareness about Section 337 cases and potential areas for legislation or congressional oversight.
• Represented a mid-sized bank in securing a favorable tax treatment (pass-through rate) for a particular banking ownership structure.
• Preparing witnesses to testify before the House Education and Labor Committee and Small Business Committee on the implementation of innovative and accelerated learning through partnerships between K-12 schools and institutions of higher education and the impact of student loans on medical professional small business owners.
• Provided a large US distributor with comprehensive support for tariff exclusion requests, including developing more than 35 Section 301 exclusion requests, combined with congressional bipartisan, bicameral letters of support complimenting such requests.
• Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt in his appearance before the Senate Homeland Security Committee investigation of alleged conflicts of interest
• Advised multiple clients on issues surrounding the House Judiciary Committee’s investigation into competition in digital markets.
• Advised a student-driven gun violence prevention group created in the aftermath of the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in advancing the organization's "Peace Plan for a Safer America" before the California State Legislature.
• Reversed a proposed 85% cut in Medicare payment for a molecular diagnostic test used to avoid unnecessary chemotherapy after breast cancer, through a rapid-response Congressional, regulatory and coalition strategy that protected the emerging precision medicine market and ensured Medicare beneficiaries would continue to have access to vital diagnostic tests.
• Obtained language in the House FY 2020 Military Construction/Veterans Affairs appropriations bill to encourage the Department of Veterans Affairs to examine clinical workflow solutions in the implementation of a new electronic health records (EHR) platform.
• Advise a multipractice, multifirm effort to draft model municipal, state, and federal legislation for deep decarbonization of the United States.
• Coordinated an advocacy campaign in support of a multinational client's domestic presence related to a Section 201 investigation.
• Helping raise the profile of a university president, by securing a key role for the president to participate in a higher education leaders meeting with federal law enforcement to discuss national security issues and the threat of foreign espionage on university campuses.
• Represented one of the world's largest managers of money market mutual funds (MMFs), in advocacy before the NAIC and state regulators to obtain "cash equivalency" treatment of MMFs in insurer financial statements.
• Represented the world's largest electric vehicle charging network operator on policy issues impacting the deployment of alternative fuel vehicles, and led a coalition that successfully advocated for inclusion of a billion dollar multiyear grant program in House and Senate surface transportation legislation pending in the 116th Congress.
• Major art auction house and private art dealer in connection with an investigation into the art market conducted by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
• Successfully advocated to ensure members of Congress voted to reauthorize the distant signal copyright licenses in the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization.
• Aided a large multifamily real estate development company to help expedite the approval of various plans and permits before the California Department of Toxic Substances Control to ensure the timely construction of a 500 apartment unit infill development project in the San Francisco Bay Area.
• Prepared key portions of a Supreme Court amicus brief on behalf of a coalition of healthcare data organizations supporting expanded access to inform state-level cost containment and quality improvement efforts.
• Secured report language in the FY 2019 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies appropriations bill to encourage the HHS Secretary to develop best practices on brain aneurysm detection and diagnosis.
• Represented an international power developer and energy storage operator in a cross-border transactional dispute before Congress and the Executive Branch.
• Represents a major European insurance trade association with respect to proposals in recent Congresses that would, among other things, create a new cause of action for Holocaust survivors or kin to sue in federal courts the US affiliates of European insurers that were doing business during 1933-45.
• Consulting on a company’s educational equity campaign, including organizing a launch event at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Legislative Conference.
• Secured language in the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act to increase funding for DOD 5G research and development programs by $270 million, including a specific directive to build a 5G R&D facility.