By Brody Mullins and Ted Mann 

WASHINGTON -- The coronavirus outbreak has leveled a devastating blow to the American economy, decimating industries large and small and wiping out millions of jobs.

But here in the nation's capital, business is booming for the influence-peddling business.

Companies and interest groups reeling from the health crisis and economic collapse are snatching up lobbyists and regulatory experts to help them navigate the government bureaucracy for help. That includes figuring out how to get a slice of the roughly $2-trillion stimulus package approved last week by Congress.

"I have never seen anything like the demand for information right now," said Ed Newberry, global managing partner of the policy and regulatory practice at Squire Patton Boggs. "And I've been practicing for 30 years."

Companies have 30 days to disclose new lobbying hires, so the uptick in activity hasn't yet registered in public lobbying data. But reports filed in the past few days show a flurry of new lobbying registrations, especially by organizations affected by the coronavirus outbreak, such as San Diego County-based Leading BioSciences, St. Luke's University Health Network and the National Recreation and Park Association.

In addition to seeking stimulus loans, companies are tapping lobbyists as they seek beneficial policy changes -- or to head off punitive regulations. Other U.S. companies are laying the groundwork for the next stimulus bill Congress has started to consider.

Washington's law and lobbying firms quickly retooled themselves for the new opportunity. Weeks before Congress approved the stimulus law, firms huddled to create Covid-19 practice areas and began marketing themselves as experts.

In a note to potential clients, partner Peter Shields of Washington law and lobbying firm Wiley Rein LLP wrote that his shop "is uniquely positioned to help our clients navigate these uncharted waters and the uncertainty that abounds."

Lobbying disclosure reports offer a glimpse into the superheated environment.

Corona Pathology of Burbank Calif., recently hired two former congressional staffers for help with regulatory issues related to its pathology and laboratory services.

A pair of aviation-financing firms signed a lobbying contract with a former top Senate aide to figure out how to qualify for aid from the billions of dollars Congress set aside in the stimulus package to help the U.S. industries.

And the labor union that represents park rangers tapped a lobbying firm to try to persuade the Trump administration to close national parks during the pandemic.

Economic crises are often good for the lobbying industry in the nation's capital. After the 2007 financial crash, Washington's response included a $700 billion bill to pump capital into financial-services firms. That sparked record growth in the lobbying industry.

In 2008 and 2009, the lobbying business grew 22% to $3.5 billion, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, which collects public reports that companies must file on their spending on lobbying.

In the decade since, total spending on lobbying has been flat. Now, however, the coronavirus-related stimulus package has put a new premium on insider knowledge of Washington.

"Companies across the industry spectrum are very anxious to understand what it means, how it works," said Alex Vogel, a lobbyist and former top Senate aide. "It's less about trying to influence the process and more about understanding the process that the government has put in place."

The Vogel Group recently signed two related Austin-based firms exploring options for federal assistance, Sable Insurance Agency and Summit Sky Advisory LLC.

Under the stimulus package President Trump signed into law last week, the Small Business Administration is to make $350 billion in loans to companies with fewer than 500 employees. Healthcare agencies are distributing $100 billion for hospitals, nursing homes and other health care facilities. The Treasury Department must make $500 million in loans to distressed industries such as restaurants, hotels and airlines.

Rich Gold, the head of the public policy and regulation group at Holland & Knight LLP, said his firm was doing a lot of work helping clients navigate the SBA loan-application process. "Typically, someone in their office will draft the application and then come to us with the 36 questions that came out of that process," he said.

Mr. Gold said his firm had signed up a dozen clients in the past few weeks, including book publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co., which publishes college textbooks. The publisher is worried about sales drying up if colleges move their classes online, and it is exploring federal assistance.

The Coalition for a Prosperous America, a trade group that promotes reviving American manufacturing and bolstering domestic-supply chains, has signed up with a lobbying firm for the first time, hoping to advocate for domestic production of its member companies' goods, including medical masks and pharmaceuticals.

Among the group's members is Revere Copper -- founded in 1801 by Paul Revere -- which sees the virus as an opportunity to change federal regulations on copper products.

The copper industry has been in a dispute with the Environmental Protection Agency over the promotion of the antimicrobial properties of copper, for use in "touch surfaces" such as door handles and railings. The government has required copper suppliers to follow protocols similar to those for pesticide producers to advertise their claims.

Michael Stumo, CEO of the coalition, said the coronavirus pandemic was a chance to eliminate what the industry sees as red tape.

"Germs die on copper, and so does Covid-19," he said.

The union representing the U.S. Park Police hired a lobbyist to bolster its call for additional staffing and to enlist lawmakers to seek the shutdown of national parks in crowded urban areas, including Washington, D.C. and San Francisco.

"When confronted with a crisis like Covid-19, the lack of adequate staffing means that if just one officer is exposed an entire shift of officers could be forced to quarantine," union chairman Kenneth Spencer said, in a statement forwarded by the lobbyist Gary Gallant.

Memora Health, a digital health-and-telemedicine firm based in San Francisco, last week hired a lobbying firm to let senior government officials, including members of the White House coronavirus task force, know about its free and anonymous screening process and the large data set it has collected about the spread of coronavirus.

The company says its automated and text-based process reduces the time doctors need to spend on the phone with patients and could help provide the government with valuable data about the spread of the virus.

To get that information in the hands of the right people, the firm is working with the CGCN Group, a Washington lobbying firm run by Republicans with close ties to the Trump administration.

--Anthony DeBarros contributed to this article.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 01, 2020 13:27 ET (17:27 GMT)