More than one billion dollars were spent in 2024 elections supporting or opposing state and local ballot measures. With high-profile and contentious issues expected to be on the ballot, such as congressional redistricting, AI regulation, minimum wage increases, and more, that number promises to be even larger in 2026. As state legislatures become more polarized
Administrative
Senate Advances Bills To Broaden Foreign Agent Disclosures in Lobbying Reports
Shortly before adjourning for 2025, the Senate passed two bills to broaden disclosure and registration requirements related to the regulation of foreign agents under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (“FARA”) and the Lobbying Disclosure Act (“LDA”): the Disclosing Foreign Influence in Lobbying Act (S. 856 / H.R. 1883) and the Lobbying Disclosure Improvement…
New York City Council Poised to Reinvigorate Investigative Authorities and Issue Subpoenas to the Private Sector
Among a wave of noteworthy results in this fall’s off-year elections, Zohran Mamdani’s selection as the next Mayor of New York City was perhaps the most closely watched and widely discussed. Though much of that commentary has focused on the new Mayor himself, the New York City Council appears poised to exert its own power…
Is a Political Law Shareholder Proposal Under Your Tree? Strategies for Responding in the New Year
The 2025 proxy season saw significant developments with respect to proposals calling on companies to disclose information about their political contribution activity and lobbying activity, including an increase in support for political contribution proposals. That stronger support, particularly against the backdrop of reduced support for socially-oriented shareholder proposals, may lead to more such proposals filed…
GAO’s Annual Bid Protest Report: Fiscal Year 2025 Protest Filings Drop While the Effectiveness Rate Remains High
On December 12, 2025, GAO released its Bid Protest Annual Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2025, which provides bid protest statistics and other information regarding GAO’s protest system.…
FY26 NDAA Aims to Raise the Dollar Thresholds for the Applicability of CAS and TINA
Among the most challenging areas of regulatory compliance for federal contractors are cost accounting and cost and pricing data disclosure requirements. Indeed, many companies place guardrails on the nature and scale of their business relationships with the U.S. government precisely to avoid the application of these requirements. In a move that seems consistent with the…
BIOSECURE Act Moves Closer to Enactment with Inclusion in FY 2026 NDAA Text
After failing to be included in the Fiscal Year (“FY”) 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) or passed as a standalone piece of legislation, the BIOSECURE Act has moved closer to finally being enacted after it was included in the final FY 2026 NDAA text released by Congress on December 7, 2025. Section 851 of…
COFC Reaffirms Domestic Sourcing Regulations as a Viable Basis for Bid Protests
Recently, in Cosette Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. United States, the Court of Federal Claims sustained a bid protest, finding that the agency misapplied the Trade Agreements Act (“TAA”) during proposal evaluation. That decision is a helpful reminder that the Court can be a hospitable forum for challenging an agency’s application of domestic sourcing regulations.…
Corporate and Industry “Mega PACs”: The Next Frontier for Super PACs
Since the landmark Citizens United decision in 2010, super PACs have become a fixture of U.S. political campaigns. But despite the initial anticipated boom in corporate influence in elections, most super PAC funding to date has come from wealthy individuals, closely-held corporations, and nonprofits, not from large for-profit corporations.
However, there is an emerging shift in the…
Top Five Trends and Takeaways from the FY 2025 ASBCA and CBCA Annual Reports
As fiscal year (“FY”) 2025 closes, both the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (“ASBCA”) and Civilian Board of Contract Appeals (“CBCA”) released their annual reports. Together, the two reports provide a useful snapshot of case volumes, outcomes, agency trends, and procedural developments. We break down the findings and, most importantly, what they mean for…