Legislative Analysis
The stakes have risen exponentially for federal-level renewable energy policy. Only after the election of the most recent Congress has it appeared that any substantial legislation on renewable energy or climate change policy would be made. Policymakers, policy advocates, and businesses are scrambling to develop and pass legislation; with implications of this legislation just being formed, we are helping clients understand the policy initiatives, the effects of the passage of those policy initiatives, and where or if there are opportunities to shape, protect, and/or enhance their interests. Helios Strategies routinely produces brief updates on Hill and Administration activities with background on the politics of the energy debates and interpretations of implications as the process unfolds. This product analysis is tailored to the interests of the client. This analysis includes:
- Identify relevant legislation and how it will impact their market or member interests.
- Identify opportunities within existing legislation that are relevant to client industry or in the case of manufacturers, the stage of product development in which they are currently operating. (R&D, Commercialization, Deployment, etc)
- Identify gaps in the legislation that exclude or overlook the interests of clients and/or members and draft legislation to correct that exclusion/oversight.
Policy Development and Lobbying
Clients can decide to expand the scope of work with Helios and take the results of the legislative analysis and use Helios lobbying services to shape the outcome of legislation. This level of service would take identified gaps and unexplored opportunities turn them into policy concepts and use our lobbying capacity to get the measures introduced in legislation. At this level, we would:
- Draft policy concepts and legislative language to correct oversights and exclusions
- Identify and develop new policy concepts to support and/or further market clients' product development
- Lobby for policy changes that support the interest of the client.
Predictive Intelligence and Analysis
Legislation on the scale of the proposed energy or climate change bill is rarely passed as introduced. The legislative process is shaped by the interests of Congressional members as well as the forces by which they represent at any given time. Helios can assist clients in preparing for the likely outcomes and their implications. Helios will:
- Analyze the original legislation and generate a scenario for the impact of the legislation if passed as is
- Identify controversial provisions within the bill
- Identify provisions being forwarded by constituency groups and amendments likely to be offered by Members of Congress
- Generate different scenarios should those amendments be included or if controversial provisions are dropped
- Assess the likelihood of the success of the overall bill and the probability of success of the individual amendments
- Offer suggestions to the client about their ideal outcome
- Assist in lobbying to achieve that outcome
Federal Marketing
Many of our clients have developed relatively mature technologies who are beyond R&D moving into commercialization, but in search of markets appropriate to the scale of their current production capacity the Federal government can be a stable market for small- to medium-sized clients who need to secure sales revenue as they ramp up production to meet larger demand. SMI has experience with marketing to federal agencies. Helios will assist energy clients by:
- Identifying the Departments most likely to purchase their product or service
- Identify the relevant agencies within those departments that affect procurement decisions
- Introduce the clients to the relevant program managers or personnel to familiarize
- Assist clients in getting their product or service into the Federal procurement system
- Securing support from the legislative branch for their product
- Lining up outside support from relevant constituents for the product or service
Appropriations Lobbying (referred to SMI)
Given the fact that many parts of the Energy Industry is relatively young and rapidly innovating, there will continue to be demand for SMI's traditional services. Helios can assist in identifying the best federal market for client's technologies and develop strategies for securing Congressionally directed funding.