Why It Matters
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), whose industry is listed as cooperatives, energy and electricity, and utilities, has disclosed lobbying on health issues, retirement, taxation, budget and appropriations, and disaster planning and emergencies over the past five years. The in-house filing lists draft legislation on Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) preemption, telemedicine, rural health, group health plans, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), and flexible spending accounts; draft retirement savings proposals affecting defined-benefit and defined-contribution plans; and issues related to budget reconciliation.
By the Numbers
NRECA's in-house registrant reported $1,289,734 for the third quarter of 2026, signed Oct. 20, 2026. That is up $309,734 from the $980,000 reported in the second quarter of 2026. Compared with the third quarter of 2025, when the in-house registrant reported $840,000, the figure is up $449,734.
Outside firms filing for NRECA this quarter: Avōq LLC ($90,000), BGR Government Affairs LLC ($90,000), Russell Group Inc. ($50,000), Davis & Harman LLP ($10,000), and Capitol Tax Partners LLP ($0). Capitol Tax Partners LLP reported $0 for the third quarter, down from $80,000 in the second quarter.
The 13 in-house lobbyists on the filing include: Grant Cummings, director of legislative affairs, former legislative aide to Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK); Will Mitchell, legislative affairs director, former House staffer; Louis Finkel, senior vice president of government relations, former House staffer; Hill Thomas IV, vice president of legislative affairs, former House staffer; Mike Horder, legislative affairs director for cyber and grid security, former House staffer; Katie Culleton, legislative affairs director, former Senate staffer; Hannah Scott, director of legislative affairs, former Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee staff assistant; and Jason Cooke, Paul Gutierrez, Joe Cirrincione, M.K. Kirlin, Chris Stephen, and Montee Wynn Jr.
Broader Context
FEMA Loan Interest Payment Relief Act
H.R. 2836, the FEMA Loan Interest Payment Relief Act, was referred to the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management on April 10, 2025. The bill would require the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to reimburse local governments and electric cooperatives for interest paid on loans used for disaster-related activities later covered by FEMA assistance, with retroactive application going back nine years.
Separately, at a Transportation and Infrastructure hearing on FEMA reform on Aug. 25, Rep. Jeff Hurd (R-CO-3) asked NRECA CEO Jim Matheson how the bipartisan FEMA Act can help co-ops harden their systems, and said wildfires threaten the power rural communities rely on.
Cybersecurity for Rural Utilities
The House passed the Rural and Municipal Utility Cybersecurity Act on June 29, with Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA-1) noting that rural co-ops "face the same sophisticated cyber threats with far fewer resources"; NRECA is listed among the bill's supporters. Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA) introduced the Senate version of the Rural and Municipal Utility Cybersecurity Act on Aug. 7, 2026, and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) introduced legislation on Aug. 12 to reauthorize the RMUC grant program for co-ops and municipal utilities.
Permitting Reform
Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) introduced the New Source Review Permitting Act on Aug. 11 to clarify Clean Air Act permitting; NRECA is listed among the supporting groups.
The Bottom Line
NRECA's in-house spending has risen each quarter from the fourth quarter of 2025 through the third quarter of 2026, while the outside-firm roster has held steady across the last two quarters. H.R. 2836 was referred to the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management.
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