FIRST IN PI — SECONDARY TICKETERS HEAD TO THE HILL: The head of a coalition of ticket brokers and resellers will make the rounds in Washington this week to meet with key stakeholders in the debate over reforms for the ticketing and live events industry. — Jason Berger, the head of the ticket resale site Event VIP and executive director of the Coalition for Ticket Fairness, will be on the Hill tomorrow to meet with members and staff from the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees in addition to the offices of leaders on those committees like Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Reps. Bob Latta (R-Ohio), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.). — The head of the coalition, whose supporters have included StubHub, SeatGeek, Vivid Seats, Automatiq, Logitix and the National Association of Ticket Brokers, will also meet Wednesday with staff from the White House’s National Economic Council. The New York-based group has turned its attention from lobbying on ticket reforms in the Empire State to the federal level, where ticketing practices are under the microscope after Ticketmaster’s botched presale for Taylor Swift’s tour. — The fight over ticket reforms is playing out along familiar fault lines, with Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation seeking to deflect some blame onto ticket brokers and resellers in its push for reforms, while secondary marketplaces and consumer groups have bemoaned restrictions placed on ticket holders by primary sellers. SPEAKING OF EV TAX CREDITS: “A major U.S. battery manufacturer and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) are making an eleventh-hour push to persuade the Treasury Department to reverse its interpretation of Inflation Reduction Act domestic content provisions that could boost foreign components used in electric vehicles that qualify for federal incentives,” POLITICO’s James Bikales reports. — “Treasury’s interpretation of a phrase in the legislation could determine whether entire factories and thousands of jobs end up in the U.S. or other countries, according to Nevada-based battery manufacturer Redwood Materials.” The Biden administration, which is expected to roll out proposed guidance this week, “has indicated it will side with automakers and EV advocates, who argue that Redwood’s interpretation would choke supply of EVs when consumer demand is soaring.” — “At issue is whether the metal powders within the electrodes of a car battery are considered ‘critical minerals’ or ‘battery components.’ That’s a vital distinction because the components are subject to more restrictive domestic sourcing requirements.” CRYPTO PUNCHES BACK: “Crypto businesses have warned for months that the Biden administration is quietly moving to push them out of the U.S. Now, with the collapse of three crypto-friendly banks, they say the evidence is piling up,” POLITICO’s Declan Harty reports. — “The $1 trillion crypto industry is going on the offensive against what executives say is an existential threat to ‘de-bank’ digital asset businesses, mounting a lobbying campaign to oppose efforts to discourage lenders from taking them on as customers. … The clash marks the latest front in what is already an all-out battle between the once high-flying industry and officials in Washington that could shape the future of crypto in the U.S.” — One of the industry’s top trade groups, the Blockchain Association, wants to investigate concerns that regulators are de-banking crypto firms, while other industry executives are calling for probes of financial regulators over claims that the fall of both Silvergate Capital and Signature Bank was connected to their crypto ties. The industry’s allies on Capitol Hill are joining the fight. — Others, including within the crypto sphere, dismiss the notion of an anti-crypto conspiracy. No banking agencies “have indicated that there is anything preventing banks from dealing with crypto clients, as long as they are operating within the law and properly managing the risks. The effort, former FDIC official Todd Phillips said, is instead about alerting banks to rising and lurking risks — basic bank supervision.” FRANCHISES ADD TOP ATTORNEY: The International Franchise Association has hired Sarah Bush as the group’s first in-house general counsel as the trade association retools to “navigate the ever-changing legislative and regulatory landscape” for franchises. Bush, who will support IFA’s government relations team, was most recently general counsel for Mayweather Boxing + Fitness, and before that specialized in franchise and labor issues at firms like DLA Piper, Foley & Lardner and Perkins Coie. — IFA has been active at the federal level in the first two years of the Biden administration as it sought to fend off a Democratic labor overhaul and expanded joint employer rules that seek to hold corporations accountable for franchisees’ labor practices. IFA was also at the forefront of a vociferous opposition campaign against a landmark fast food labor law in California last year. — “Never in IFA’s 65 years has franchising faced as many existential policy threats as we see today,” IFA President and CEO Matt Haller said in a statement. Bush’s “depth of experience will provide critical support in IFA’s mission to protect franchising and serve as an invaluable resource for our members to navigate today’s business landscape,” he added. ASSOCIATION FOR ASSOCIATIONS FLIES IN: The American Society of Association Executives will convene its annual fly-in this week with dozens of advocates from 20 states meeting with more than 50 offices. Advocates are set to meet with members of the tax-writing committees, House Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) and Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and ranking member Tim Scott (R-S.C.), according to the association, and will push for proposals that would increase access to 529 education savings plan tax advantages.
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