FIRST IN PI — GIG COMPANIES PUSH TO OVERTURN INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR RULE: The business community is escalating its bid to overturn the Biden administration’s new worker classification rule, with the Flex Association, the trade group representing app-based companies like DoorDash and Lyft, throwing its support behind a congressional effort to block the rule along with nearly four dozen other business groups. — In a letter to the Hill sent Thursday, the coalition called on lawmakers to pass one of the Congressional Review Act resolutions from Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) or Bill Cassidy (R-La.), which would require a simple majority of Congress to block the worker classification rule. — The rule, which is set to take effect on Monday, makes it more difficult for companies to classify workers as independent contractors who therefore are not covered by the federal law that governs minimum wage, overtime pay and other benefits. — It replaces a 2021 policy from the Trump administration that business groups argue “provided a workable classification analysis,” unlike the new rule, which the business groups warned lawmakers “will result in confusion and invite frivolous litigation that could ultimately have a chilling effect on independent work opportunities and entrepreneurship generally. This will be particularly problematic for small businesses that rely on independent contractors.” — A bevy of trade associations joined a recently revived lawsuit this week aimed at nullifying the rule. That move likely has a better shot at success than the CRA effort, which is prone to a veto by Biden. While that suit was initially filed by a group whose members include Uber and Lyft, the Flex Association had earlier expressed relief at the final language, telling our colleagues in January that it didn’t foresee any immediate impacts from the rule but sought “to ensure implementation of this rule does not target” app-based workers. MORE NEW BUSINESS: Real estate listing platform Bright MLS has hired its first lobbyists as well. Former Rep. Phil English, Dan Renberg and Kelsey Griswold-Berger of ArentFox Schiff are lobbying on federal regulation of platforms known as multiple listing services in the residential housing marketplace, following antitrust scrutiny involving the industry’s biggest player, the National Association of Realtors. — Bright MLS, a regional MLS that covers the mid-Atlantic, reached a settlement agreement in January in a class action lawsuit that “said antitrust law prohibited the realtor trade association’s ‘clear cooperation policy’ that required an agent who wanted to list a home on PLS’s platform to also include it on a multiple listing service,” according to Reuters. — NAR has also come under pressure over its commissions processes, which require home sellers’ agents to provide a commission offer for buyers’ agents in order to list their homes on NAR’s multiple listing service. The trade group agreed to disclose those fees several years ago, and last year Bright MLS agreed to allow listing agents to input $0 blanket offers of compensation on their service. — Bright MLS "wants to help Congress and the Administration avoid implementing policies that could lead to inadvertent consequences that could impact fair housing, reduce competition in the real estate market, and deny some Americans the fullest opportunity to own a home," Renberg told PI in an email. — Former Rep. G.K. Butterfield has registered to lobby for Icelandic biotech company Kerecis, which manufactures grafted fish skin products to prompt tissue regeneration and heal wounds in humans. — Butterfield, who is now at McGuireWoods, began lobbying for the company in January as a subcontractor to Aspen Consulting Service, according to a disclosure filing. Stephanie Kennan, a former health policy adviser to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is also working on the account with Butterfield to lobby on Medicare reimbursement for Kerecis’ products. INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY ON K STREET: In honor of International Women’s Day today, Bloomberg’s Kate Ackley looked at the “many networks for women in lobbying that have worked to boost their ranks and bring along a new generation,” which have helped increase the number of women lobbying over the past two decades. — “The networking events, including some tied this month to International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, have become more formalized, lobbyists said. Outside groups and party committees from both sides of the aisle have set up fundraising events focused on women donors.” — Data from LegiStorm “found that women accounted for almost 40% of registered lobbyists last year, up from 33% in 2000. ‘We are definitely seeing the numbers show us that there is a pretty substantial increase over the last 20-some years,’ [said] Keturah Hetrick, chief congressional researcher at LegiStorm. ‘But women represent a pretty clear minority of registered lobbyists still.’” LAKE’S K STREET PIVOT: “Arizona Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake has been quietly meeting with lobbyists and raising money in Washington in recent weeks,” people familiar with the matter tell CNBC’s Brian Schwartz, a pivot for a candidate who has frequently maligned D.C.’s political establishment and in January professed on X that “I don’t give a damn what the lobbyists think.” — “On Tuesday, Lake met with about a dozen lobbyists in the nation’s capital, and the following day she attended a campaign fundraiser that was heavy with D.C. hired guns” who represent clients Microsoft and the American Bankers Association. — She “also recently met with Rick Dearborn, a partner at the lobbying shop Mindset, according to sources familiar with the matter. The meeting focused on the types of future events Lake could host with attendees from a variety of business sectors. A former White House deputy chief of staff under Trump, Dearborn has a rolodex full of clients that could potentially be interested in meeting with Lake, including Shell, Amazon Web Services, Verizon and Meta, according to public lobbying disclosure reports.” NO LABELS, YES WHITE HOUSE BID: Our Shia Kapos and Daniel report that “the centrist political organization No Labels voted on Friday to move forward with its presidential ticket, according to a virtual meeting the group held with its delegates. But an official with the group acknowledged during the gathering, a recording of which was shared with POLITICO, that they currently do not have a candidate and may not find one.” — “The decision by No Labels marks a potentially major turning point in the course of the 2024 campaign, with the bipartisan group deciding to forge on with their third-party presidential ambitions.” — “Democrats fear that a No Labels ticket could greatly damage President Joe Biden’s prospects for reelection, deriding the group as a stalking horse for likely GOP nominee Donald Trump. The call, which was a virtual gathering of more than 600 delegates, was directed by Mike Rawlings, a Democratic former mayor of Dallas.” — “Regional leaders on the call expressed broad support for proceeding with a third-party presidential bid in the wake of Biden and Trump now clearly emerging as their party’s respective presidential nominees.” WHO’S FUNDRAISING FOR SENATE BANKING CHAIR: Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) was spotted on Tuesday leaving a fundraiser at the D.C. office of the lobbying firm Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, a PI tipster tells Daniel. — The firm lobbies for a number of clients that are in the financial services space, including First Republic Bank, the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp., the Managed Funds Association, Blue Owl Capital Holdings LLC and DailyPay. A spokesperson for Arnold & Porter confirmed the fundraiser, but declined further comment. A spokesperson for Brown's campaign had no comment. FLY-IN SZN (CONT.): Advocacy groups from a range of industries have continued to flood D.C. this week for their annual fly-ins. That included the food allergy group FARE, which met with more than 200 offices on the Hill to discuss labeling medicine for the top nine allergens and gluten, reducing the cost of EpiPens, and increasing federal food allergy research. — The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors completed its second fly-in focused on women’s financial security, meeting with lawmakers like Reps. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) and Bryan Steil (R-Wis.). — Financial advisers and client support team professionals from Edward Jones were in town this week as well, with more than 300 meetings on the docket to discuss policies to build on 2022’s SECURE 2.0 Act, improve savings opportunities for caregivers, and increase financial literacy education at Pentagon-operated high schools. — Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf fishermen also hit Washington as part of a fly-in organized by the Environmental Defense Fund and Seafood Harvesters of America, where they advocated for funding for climate-resilient fisheries management, regional councils, fisheries surveys and data modernization. — The Associated Equipment Distributors and Pioneer Equipment Dealers Association also flew in this week to discuss the lack of equipment technicians and to call for immigration and workforce development reforms to help address the shortage.
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