NEW BUSINESS: Startup accelerator Y Combinator has hired its first lobbyists in nearly a decade, the latest signal that the Silicon Valley venture firm is stepping up its advocacy footprint in D.C. The Joseph Group’s Kevin Joseph, whose roster of clients includes fellow Big Tech critics Yelp and Beeper, began lobbying on immigration reform, tech competition policy, AI and capital formation for YC last month, according to a newly filed disclosure. — The incubator (whose former president, Sam Altman, readers may have heard of) briefly retained lobbyists at Venture Politics in 2014 for work on the Obama administration’s proposed startup visa program. In October, it announced it had hired well-known Big Tech critic Luther Lowe away from Yelp to be YC’s first head of public policy. THIS LOBBYING FIGHT HAS EVERYTHING: A brewing lobbying fight over the key technology that acts as the “eyes” of self-driving cars “is quickly becoming a new flashpoint in already fraught relations between the U.S. and China,” our Tanya Snyder reports. — “The development of ‘lidar’ sensor technology has helped fueled the rise of driverless ‘robotaxis’ roaming cities like San Francisco and Phoenix. But as automakers prepare to deploy lidar-enabled features such as adaptive cruise control and blind spot detection in more consumer vehicles, the homegrown industry is mounting a wide-ranging lobbying offensive against a leading Chinese rival that’s stepping up its own PR game.” — “The San Francisco-based lidar firm Ouster is appealing to Congress to stop the hemorrhaging by stoking fears that Chinese versions of the technology could be used to spy on Americans and deliver intelligence about sensitive U.S. infrastructure to Beijing.” — “Ouster and its lobbyists have secured meetings with key lawmakers on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and Biden administration officials, trying to raise alarm about potential threats. They’ve been urging blacklists or outright bans, as well as imposing tariffs on Chinese-made lidar sensors,” in a campaign “ripped out of the playbook that ultimately led Congress and regulators to ban another Chinese company — drone-maker DJI — from Defense Department procurements and other business.” — “But Chinese manufacturer Hesai, which makes lidar offerings that are cheaper and more sophisticated than many U.S. companies, is fighting back, egged on by some U.S. auto interests whose vehicles already use its technology. … The lobbying campaign from U.S. interests — and complaints from their own U.S. customers — encouraged Hesai to hire its own high-priced team of lobbyists and PR reps,” the company’s CEO said. SAME FIRM PREPPED COLLEGE PRESIDENTS FOR ANTISEMITISM HEARING: “At a congressional hearing on Tuesday, the leaders of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology gave carefully worded — and seemingly evasive — answers to the question of whether they would discipline students who called for the genocide of Jews.” — “The intense criticism that followed led many to wonder: Who had prepared them for testimony? It turns out that one of America’s best known white-shoe law firms, WilmerHale, was intricately involved,” The New York Times’ Lauren Hirsch reports. — “Two of the school presidents, Claudine Gay of Harvard and Elizabeth Magill of Penn, prepared separately for the congressional testimony with teams from WilmerHale, according to two people familiar with the situation who asked not to be identified because the preparation process is confidential. WilmerHale also had a meeting with M.I.T.’s president, Sally Kornbluth, one of the people said.” — “On Saturday, Ms. Magill resigned as Penn’s president after the fallout from her congressional testimony became overwhelming.” WilmerHale, which is “best known in the legal industry for defending clients facing government investigations and enforcement,” also “has an extensive practice working with universities.” — “Lawyers for WilmerHale sat in the front row at the hearing on Tuesday. They included Alyssa DaCunha, who leads the firm’s congressional investigations and crisis management practices, and Felicia Ellsworth, the vice chair of the firm’s litigation and controversy department,” both of whom “were involved in preparing the presidents of Harvard and Penn for the hearings, one person familiar with the process said.” IF YOU MISSED IT OVER THE WEEKEND: “Members of the European Parliament, EU member countries represented by the Council, and experts from the European Commission have clinched a political deal on the Artificial Intelligence Act, the EU’s pioneering attempt at regulating the emerging technology,” our EU colleague Gian Volpicelli reports. — “Following over 36 hours of negotiations over three days, representatives of the bloc’s three institutions have managed to reach an agreement on divisive topics such as predictive policing, facial recognition and the use of AI by law enforcement.” ADVAMED LAUNCHES A NEW DIVISION: Medical device lobby, AdvaMed, is establishing a new medical imaging technology division, per Morning Pulse. Patrick Hope, former executive director of the Medical Imaging and Technology Alliance, will lead the division, AdvaMed said. MITA member companies will be under the AdvaMed umbrella. The move comes as interest in artificial intelligence booms in the sector and imaging technology often leans on AI. MEANWHILE, IN THE EMPIRE STATE: “One of the United States’ largest online gambling operators tried to water down rules designed to help problem gamblers and protect young and vulnerable people,” The Guardian’s Callum Jones reports. — “FanDuel lobbied for New York to rethink a proposed ban on gambling platforms from using certain words and phrases to attract people ‘who are or may be’ problem gamblers to their websites. The company, which is owned by the Dublin-based gambling giant Flutter Entertainment, also opposed a rule prohibiting sports-betting advertisements near college campuses. The state’s legal age for the activity is 21.” — “Unredacted documents obtained through a freedom of information request, and the New York state register, detail FanDuel’s objections to proposed sports-betting advertising rules, and how the state’s gaming commission stood firm. Ultimately the rules came into effect in October.” DEPT. OF ODD BEDFELLOWS: “The American Civil Liberties Union and the National Rifle Association agree about very little. They are often on opposite sides in major cases, and they certainly have starkly different views about gun rights. But when the Supreme Court agreed to hear the N.R.A.’s free-speech challenge to what it said were a New York official’s efforts to blacklist it, one of its lawyers had a bold idea,” NYT’s Adam Liptak reports: “Why not ask the A.C.L.U. to represent it before the justices?’ — “‘The N.R.A. might be thought of as the 800-pound gorilla on the Second Amendment,’ said the lawyer, William A. Brewer III. ‘Clearly, the A.C.L.U. is the 800-pound gorilla on the First Amendment.’” — “David Cole, the civil liberties group’s national legal director, said the request in one sense posed a hard question. ‘It’s never easy to defend those with whom you disagree,’ he said. ‘But the A.C.L.U. has long stood for the proposition that we may disagree with what you say but will defend to the death your right to say it.’” — “Mr. Cole’s group has been subject to occasional criticism that it has become less attentive to free-speech principles and more devoted to values rooted in equality in recent years. He rejected that critique, even as he acknowledged that the decision to represent the N.R.A. would not meet with universal praise.”
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