LegiStorm

Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah) has a new legislative director.

Rebekah Rodriguez is back on Capitol Hill this month after over a year as the director of federal affairs for the bipartisan lobbying outfit Boundary Stone Partners. Rodriguez lobbied on behalf of a variety of energy companies, with a focus on carbon removal and capture technology, hydrogen power and the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, among other issues.

Rodriguez previously worked for Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah) and the House Natural Resources Committee. She also served as deputy executive director of the Conservative Climate Caucus, founded and still chaired by Curtis.

Time to hand out those holiday bonuses: The average House personal office is on track to end the year with more than $360,000 left in its annual operating budget.

The average House personal office used just 61% of its office budget in the first nine months of the year, according to a LegiStorm analysis. That puts each office on pace to use 81% of its budget by the year's end, leaving close to $363,000 unspent per office.

The personal average office ended 2022 with 10% of its budget left unspent, or more than $176,000.

As Congress debates regulation of artificial intelligence, Boston Dynamics, the robotics company perhaps best known for its increasingly advanced "robot dogs," has hired its first Washington lobbying force.

DLA Piper is lobbying on "policy and legislation related to supporting the robotics industry and the intersection of robotics with artificial intelligence" for Boston Dynamics, according to a new disclosure. The lobbying work between the law firm and the Massachusetts company began last month.

Potential AI regulations have become one of Congress's most hot-button issues. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Amy Klobuchar's (D-Minn.) Artificial Intelligence Research, Innovation, and Accountability Act, touted as a bipartisan compromise, has stalled since its November introduction. Congress is expected to further prioritize AI regulation in 2024.

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) has powered up his staff with an energy lobbyist.

Lydia Angel joined Hoyer's staff from Alliant Energy, where she was a federal affairs specialist and registered lobbyist. The utility holding company, which serves Wisconsin and Iowa, spent just shy of $1 million on its federal in-house lobbying program in the last year.

Angel is now Hoyer's policy adviser on energy and environmental issues. Hoyer sits on the powerful House Appropriations Committee and is ranking member of its Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee.

Neil Kornze, former Bureau of Land Management director under Obama, has moved from the Senate to one of K Street's finest.

Kornze started as a senior vice president at Cassidy & Associates earlier this month. Cassidy's $17 million in federal lobbying income so far this year makes it one of D.C. largest lobbying shops by revenue, according to LegiStorm data.

Kornze comes from the office of Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), where he was chief of staff. Kornze served for three years as BLM director, preceded by a year as acting director. He is also a former CEO of the left-leaning Campion Foundation and Campion Advocacy Fund and was a senior adviser to then-Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.).