Legislative Advocacy Presentation & Reception

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Tuesday, September 15, 2026 
5:00 p.m. — 6:15 p.m. MT 

Two issues are reshaping what it costs distributors to get products into their customers’ hands, and both turned sharply this year. In February, the Supreme Court struck down the tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, sending roughly $166 billion in collected duties into a refund process that is still unfolding while the administration shifted to other authorities to implement its tariff policies. On Aug. 27, a federal court upheld Oregon’s packaging law in the first constitutional challenge to a state extended producer responsibility (EPR) program, dissolving an injunction that had shielded many distributors from enforcement.
 
Matt Holyoak, who leads business outreach from the district office of U.S. Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT), will open the Legislative Advocacy Presentation with a federal tariffs and trade update. Moore is the first Utah Republican to serve on the House Ways and Means Committee, which holds jurisdiction over all trade policy in the House, and he sits on its Trade Subcommittee — placing his office at the center of decisions that determine what distributors pay for imported equipment.
 
Thayer Ellis of Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath will follow with a working discussion on EPR compliance. Ellis counsels manufacturers, distributors, and retailers on state environmental and packaging regulations, and authored the firm’s analysis of the Oregon ruling. She will move past background and into the questions distributors are stuck on: how to determine whether their company meets a state’s definition of a “producer,” what that obligates distributors to report and pay, and how to confirm whether they are meeting those requirements across seven states with distinct rules.
 
The session closes with a legislative reception attended by staff from the offices of U.S. Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) and U.S. Reps. Blake Moore, Celeste Maloy (R-UT), Mike Kennedy (R-UT), and Burgess Owens (R-UT) — giving conference attendees an uncommon chance to put their businesses in front of the people advising Utah’s congressional delegation.

Sponsored by:

Presenter
Matt Holyoak
Business Outreach, Constituent Liaison
U.S. Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT)
  

Presenter
Thayer Ellis 
Associate
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath