With Daniel Lippman TRADE GROUPS, BRANDS ASK CONFEREES TO CRACK DOWN ON COPYCAT EDIBLES: Trade groups and consumer products brands are pressing lawmakers to include a provision in Congress’ China competitiveness package that would crack down on the online sale of THC-infused foods and candies meant to mimic well-known products . — In a letter to lawmakers, the Consumer Brands Association, the National Confectioners Association, the American Bankers Association, General Mills, Kellogg Company, Post Consumer Brands, PepsiCo. and more warned that the proliferation of products like “Stoneos,” which mimic Oreos, or marijuana-laced products copying the logos of foods like Trix or Cheetos “has created serious health and safety risks for consumers, particularly children, who cannot tell the difference between these brands’ true products and copycat THC products that leverage the brand’s fame for profit.” — The trade associations are asking for a tweak to one of the high-profile anti-counterfeits bills included in the House’s China package, the SHOP SAFE Act . The bill, which would create rules that large online marketplaces would need to follow or risk being held liable for the sale of counterfeit products on their sites, including those that “implicate health and safety.” — But it “does not prohibit sale of the above packaging and products due to the technical definition of counterfeit marks,” the groups note. They propose amending the legislation to include a prohibition on unauthorized sales of products that feature “famous” marks in addition to counterfeit ones, arguing it would “extend this protection and deter the sale of these copycat THC items which clearly ‘implicate [the] health and safety’ of children.” — SHOP SAFE and another anti-counterfeits bill, the INFORM Consumers Act, are expected to be one of several flashpoints in negotiations between the House and Senate over the China legislation. The anti-counterfeits bills sparked a contentious lobbying battle between online marketplaces and brick-and-mortar retailers, manufacturers, law enforcement and others, and were included only in the House’s China package. POLICE BACK INFORM ACT: Lawmakers’ other major anti-counterfeits bill got another boost today, this time from the National Fraternal Order of Police. The organization is asking House leadership to ensure that theINFORM Consumers Act, which would require online marketplaces to take steps to verify the identity of high-volume sellers and provide some of that information to customers, makes it through negotiations on the China competitiveness package. — “This bill creates a solution for a current and pervasive problem in e-commerce — the fact that large numbers of goods sold by third parties on online marketplaces are counterfeit, stolen, or unsafe to consumers,” Patrick Yoes, the organization’s president, said in his letter. He pointed out that last year, the USTR determined that counterfeit and pirated goods sold online had grown into a half-trillion-dollar industry. — Yoes said INFORM includes “simple and common sense steps” that “will help deter and curtail criminal third parties from abusing online marketplaces for illicit purposes.” Good afternoon and welcome to PI. What’s going on out there? Let me know: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.
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MARKETPLACES PUSH TO RAISE TAX REPORTING THRESHOLD FOR SELLERS: Half a dozen online marketplaces are calling on lawmakers to reverse course and increase the threshold for online sellers that would trigger tax reporting requirements thanks to legislation Congress passed last year. eBay, Etsy, OfferUp, Poshmark, Mercari, Reverb and Tradesy on Wednesday announced the Coalition for 1099-K Fairness, which is urging congressional leaders and tax writers to boost the threshold at least a little. — The provision was slipped into President Joe Biden ’s Covid relief bill at the last moment last spring, and lowered the reporting threshold from $20,000 in sales through at least 200 transactions to $600 with no minimum number of transactions. The provision is projected to generate $8.4 billion over the next decade. — In a letter to the Hill on Wednesday , the CEOs of coalition members wrote that the drastically lower threshold puts “more complexity and paperwork on the backs of individuals trying to get a small business off the ground, while effectively forcing millions of casual sellers to receive confusing and burdensome tax forms on transactions that will generally not trigger any tax liability whatsoever.” — “Millions of Americans adversely impacted by this change are not running microbusinesses or even earning taxable income — they are simply selling pre-owned goods online,” the executives wrote, pointing out that reselling used goods helps keep them out of landfills. “Most of these pre-owned goods sell below their purchase cost which is a non-taxable event for income tax purposes,” they added. — Under the new rules, “if you sell a used bike for $700 or a few items out of your garage for a total of $1,600 — Americans all across the country are now going to be saddled with confusing and burdensome tax forms,” the group wrote. They also said that asking people for their Social Security numbers, which the companies need to produce the 1099-K tax forms, could spook potential sellers from the platforms. — The coalition, which is getting lobbying help from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, is backing several proposed bills that would raise the threshold — a couple would return the reporting requirements to what they previously were, while another would boost the threshold to $5,000. FLY-IN SZN, CONTINUED: The Recording Academy is holding Grammys on the Hill today, bringing dozens of music creators, including Grammy winners and nominees, to press the industry’s case on a number of issues. Those include the American Music Fairness Act, which would require broadcast radio stations to pay artists royalties, as well as a bill that would allow artists to expense the cost of new studio recordings on their taxes and a bill that would direct the State Department to implement music-related exchange programs, as well as other issues. — Artists have meetings scheduled with lawmakers, including Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), Minority Whip Steve Scalise(R-La.), and Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Michael McCaul (R-Texas), Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). — The National Cannabis Roundtable is wrapping up a fly-in today with executives from Cresco Labs, Trulieve, Leafly, the California Cannabis Industry Association, the Arizona Dispensaries Association and more as the industry presses hard for marijuana banking provisions to clear the conference process for lawmakers’ China competitiveness bills. — The group’s chair, former House Speaker John Boehner, hosted a dinner Wednesday at Trattoria Alberto that was attended by Reps. David Joyce (R-Ohio), Troy Carter (D-La.) and Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.). Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) spoke to the group this morning ahead of meetings on the Hill with staffers from Senate Majority Chuck Schumer’s office, as well as staff of Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.), among others. — A trade group representing the seafood industry, Stronger America Through Seafood, is winding down its two-day fly-in during which representatives from suppliers like Cargill and Sysco to retailers like Red Lobster will push for a policy framework for offshore aquaculture. CHAMBER TAPS NEW INFRASTRUCTURE LOBBYIST: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has promoted John Drake to oversee its infrastructure, transportation and supply chain government affairs operations. Drake, an Amazon and American Trucking Associations alum who previously worked on supply chain issues for the Chamber, will succeed Ed Mortimer as the powerful business lobby’s point person on several of the hottest issues in Washington right now. Mortimer left the Chamber last month to lead the Washington office for geolocation company NextNav. — The Chamber also announced a new Cyber, Space, and National Security Policy Division under Christopher Roberti that will incorporate the organization’s defense and aerospace practice into the former Cyber, Intelligence, and Supply Chain Security Division. SPOTTED at a fundraising dinner for the NRCC hosted by Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, per a PI tipster: NRCC Chair Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), Kat Cammack (R-Fla.), Diana Harshbarger (D-Tenn.), Young Kim (R-Calif.), Jake LaTurner (R-Kan.), Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.), John Rutherford (R-Fla.), Adrian Smith (R-Neb.), Jason Smith (R-Mo.), Brownstein’s Marc Lampkin, Rosemary Becchi, David Bernhardt, Geoff Burr, David Cohen, Leah Dempsey, Emily Felder, Lori Harju, Jon Hrobsky, Charlie Iovino, Joe Jaso, Luke Johnson, Greta Joynes, Melissa Kuipers Blake, Elizabeth Maier, Michael Marn, Bill McGrath, Brian McGuire, Jia Meeks, Will Moschella, Jim Nicholson, Travis Norton, Ed Royce, Preston Rutledge, Ryan Smith, Adam Steinmetz, Mark Warren, Brian Wild, Heather Wadyka and Ari Zimmerman, as well as clients and friends of the firm.
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— Prime Policy Group has promoted Emily Katz to managing director and named her chair of the firm’s health care practice. She’s a BCW, Express Scripts, Barbara Boxer, Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) alum. — Sarah Lashley has joined the American Council of Life Insurers as assistant vice president for taxes and retirement security. She previously worked for Transamerica as senior counsel and then assistant general counsel and is an IRS alum. — Chamber of Progress has added Janay Eyo as director of financial policy, Tyler Smith as director of state and local public policy for the central U.S. and Alain Xiong-Calmes as director of state and local public policy for the northeast U.S. Eyo previously served as deputy director of policy and strategic planning for Rep. Joyce Beatty ; Smith most recently served as executive assistant to Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and is a BGR and Kamala Harris alum and Xiong-Calmes was previously deputy secretary of intergovernmental affairs for Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf. — Taylor Holgate is now government relations director for Match Group. She most recently was senior director for federal government affairs at the Consumer Healthcare Products Association and is a Richard Burr (R-N.C.) alum. — The Plastics Industry Association has named Matt Seaholm as CEO and Glenn Anderson as COO. Seaholm has served as the group’s vice president of government affairs for the past two years and prior to that was the executive director of its American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance. Anderson is currently vice president of member engagement for the trade group. — American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers has promoted Geoff Moody to senior vice president of government relations and policy and Fernando “Nando” Gomez to senior director of government relations. — Kristie Greco Johnson will join the National Business Aviation Association as senior vice president for government affairs, per Huddle. She was most recently chief of staff for Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and is a Clyburn and FAA alum. — Finsbury Glover Hering is expanding its energy and sustainability team, adding Sarah Zukowski and Meira Bernstein as directors in its D.C. office. Zukowski is an alum of BPI as well as the offices of Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). Bernstein most recently was at DHS and is a Joe Biden campaign alum. — Walter Smoloski is joining Athos as an account executive. He previously was a legislative aide and press secretary for Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.). — Precision Strategies has added Kristin Avery as a senior vice president on the campaign management and mobilization team and Julia Larson as vice president and human resources director. Avery most recently was White House liaison at HHS, and is a DNC alum. Larson most recently founded Maple Grove HR Consulting.
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