Bottom line

• EQUALITY RIGHTS. Former Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.) is among the newest lobbyists for American Unity Fund, an advocacy group funded by GOP donor Paul Singer that works to advance LGBT rights issues, particularly among Republicans. Heck, who left Congress at the end of 2016 and joined Nevada-based RedRock Government Relations, reached the end of his “cooling off” period in early 2018 that barred him from lobbying Capitol Hill for one year. Disclosure records are not specific about which issues he’ll be working on for the group, though Heck served on the House Armed Services Committee. Recently, President Trump announced a policy that would ban most transgender people from the military.

• FOOD. Impossible Foods, with makes a vegetarian burger patty that is marketed to bleed like a cow-based burger, has registered its first in-house lobbyist. Tyler Jameson, who has worked for Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and the House Agriculture Committee, is now working on “issues related to food innovation,” forms say. The company also has public relations and lobbying firm Glover Park Group on retainer.

• FINANCIAL SERVICES. Americans for Financial Reform, a consumer advocacy group, hired Maine-based firm Maine Street Solutions to conduct “grass roots and grass tops and direct lobbying asking Congress people to vote against a Congressional Review Act that would overturn new rules adopted by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau aimed at restricting short term/high interest loans made by payday lenders.” It is the organization’s first lobbying firm.

• TECHNOLOGY. The gun technology company ShotSpotter, which has developed “gunfire sensing technology” intended to help law enforcement, school campuses and elected officials, has hired Prime Policy Group. Its website says that the technology is able to identify where gunshots have occurred within 30 to 45 seconds of a gun being fired and then send text alerts to police officers and first responders about those incidents. ShotSpotter says, “Nearly eight out of ten gunfire events go unreported to 911. Police cannot respond effectively if unaware of an incident.”