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FINANCIAL SERVICES. The Mortgage Bankers Association added two lobby firms to its roster: CGCN Group and Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas. Disclosure forms filed by those firms don’t reveal much about what exactly lobbyists will be doing for the organization, but the all-GOP CGCN Group said it will be working on “issues related to mortgage banking.” While Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas is a bipartisan firm, it appears as if mostly its Democratic lobbyists are working on the account and will be focused on issues surrounding “mortgage real estate investment trusts.” The Mortgage Bankers Association has three other outside firms on retainer, in addition to its in-house lobbying team.

LAW ENFORCEMENT. Collier Collective, which describes itself as a public interest consulting firm, is advocating for the Innocence Project. The nonprofit reviews claims of wrongful legal convictions — primarily using DNA testing — and works on reforming the criminal justice system. It has been lobbying on appropriations bills, specifically focused on funding for the Wrongful Conviction Review Program and the Bloodsworth Post-Conviction DNA Testing Grant Program, among others, according to lobbying disclosure forms.

The National Sheriffs’ Association, which represents sheriffs and sheriff departments, recently hired Capitol Hill Consulting Group to work on “state and local law enforcements grants,” forms say. The Justice Department “offers funding opportunities to conduct research, to support law enforcement activities in state and local jurisdictions, to provide training and technical assistance, and to implement programs that improve the criminal justice system,” according to its website. 

TECHNOLOGY. PayPal, which recently made official its split with eBay, registered its own in-house lobbying team and named its first outside firm, FTI Consulting. The in-house team includes Barry Murphy, who held lobbying positions at eBay and Microsoft and now serves as the director of Government Relations for the Americas. Also on the team are Amie Woeber, who joined the company after serving as the legislative director for Rep. Sean P. Duffy (R-Wis.), and other eBay alums Megan Hannigan and Richard Nash, who now serves as the head of Global Government Relations for PayPal. FTI Consulting has lobbied for eBay since 2013.

OmniVision Technologies hired K Street powerhouse Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck to notify “federal officials of a pending transaction,” according to lobbying disclosure forms. The company, whose cameras have been used in the Apple iPhone, agreed to be acquired by a group of Chinese investors earlier this year for about $1.9 billion. Members of Congress, including Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), have expressed concerns about deals with “China-funded acquirers.” Rohrabacher wrote to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew in June, saying that this and similar acquisitions “negatively impacts U.S. competitiveness and security through gradually shifting core technologies outside of the U.S.”