Bottom Line: Cannabis group hires former member of Congress

Taylor Giorno
·2 min read

Cannabis

The ​National Cannabis Roundtable hired Holland & Knight to lobby on the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation Banking Act (SAFER Banking Act), which would allow legal state-level marijuana industry players to access federally regulated banks and credit unions.

A Senate committee passed the cannabis banking bill for the first time in September, but it has not been brought to the floor for a vote and faces an uncertain future in the House.

Former Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), who moved from Capitol Hill to K Street after he retired from Congress following the 2022 election cycle, will work on the account.

Travel

The travel company Expedia hired Husch Blackwell Strategies to lobby on proposed regulation related to advertised prices. Over the summer, Republicans on the House Transportation Committee slipped language into the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill that would roll back an Obama-era rule requiring airlines to disclose the full ticket price up front, a rebuke of President Biden’s efforts to eliminate “junk fees.”

One of the lobbyists on the account is Stacy McBride, who was previously chief of staff to former Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), who was the No. 4 Republican in the Senate before he retired in January 2023.

Plastics

The ​World Wildlife Fund hired McCartin Public Policy Group to lobby on federal policies and funding to “end plastic pollution.” The lobbyist on the account is Muftiah McCartin, a House Rules Committee and Appropriations Committee alum who was recently vice president of government and corporate relations at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

Technology

The cloud-based management software company ​Salesforce hired Invariant to lobby on issues related to customer relationship management platforms. Amy Swonger, a Trump White House alum and former floor assistant to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), will work on the account.

The venture capital firm ​Sequoia Capital hired Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck to lobby on issues related to artificial intelligence, new technology and the venture capital sector. Will Dunham, former chief of staff for policy to then-House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), will work on the account.

Health care

The ​Pharmaceutical Care Management Association hired Colas & Associates to lobby on issues relating to pharmacy benefit managers, the industry represented by the association. The lobbyist on the account is Brian Colas, a former top aide to Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).

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