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Morgan Schreurs

Morgan Schreurs helps clients develop and execute public policy strategies, counsels clients through cultural change and political risk, and builds and manages coalitions to accomplish clients’ objectives.

Morgan primarily works with wireless technology, health technology, financial technology, and other companies on public policy matters important to highly regulated industries.

Morgan is a skilled legislative drafter with experience drafting bills and amendments on a wide variety of topics introduced and enacted by the U.S. Congress and state legislatures.

Drawing on her experience in Minnesota State government relations, Morgan co-leads the firm’s state policy practice, advising clients on complex multistate legislative and regulatory policy matters and managing state advocacy efforts.

Morgan is on the forefront of social justice issues. As the Policy Director of Invent Together—an alliance of universities, nonprofits, companies, and other stakeholders dedicated to broadening participation in inventing and patenting—she has successfully advocated for the enactment of legislation to close the inventor diversity gaps. She serves on Working Group for the Council for Inclusive Innovation led by the Department of Commerce. She is also a member of the Leadership Advisory Committee (LAC) of the National Women's Law Center (NWLC) and the Chair of the NWLC LAC Public Policy Subcommittee. In addition, Morgan maintains an active pro bono practice focused on matters related to equity and inclusion.

Prior to joining Covington, Morgan worked for the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) under former Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA). She also supported federal, state, and local political campaigns and served on the Hillary for America National Advance Team.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is once again scheduled to markup the Inventor Diversity for Economic Advancement (IDEA) Act (S.4713/H.R.9455) this Thursday, September 19.

The bipartisan, bicameral IDEA Act was introduced in the Senate by Senators Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Senate Judiciary Intellectual Property (IP) Subcommittee Ranking

Continue Reading Senate Judiciary Committee To Consider Inclusive Innovation Legislation

In August 2022, the Chips and Science Act—a massive, $280 billion bill to boost public and private sector investments in critical and emerging technologies—became law.  We followed the bill from the beginning and anticipated significant opportunities for industry to inform and influence the direction of the new law’s programs. 

One such opportunity is available now.  The U.S. Department of Commerce recently published a request for information (RFI) “to inform the planning and design of the Regional Technology and Innovation Hub (Tech Hubs) program.”  The public comment period ends March 16, 2023.

Background

The Chips and Science Act authorized $10 billion for the U.S. Department of Commerce to establish a Regional Technology and Innovation Hub (Tech Hubs) program.  Specifically, Commerce was charged with designating at least 20 Tech Hubs and awarding grants to consortia composed of one or more institutions of higher education, political subdivisions, state governments, and “industry or firms in relevant technology, innovation, or manufacturing sectors” to develop and deploy critical technologies in those hubs.  $500 million has already been made available for the program, and Commerce will administer the program through the Economic Development Administration (EDA).Continue Reading Commerce Seeks Comments on Regional Tech Hubs Program

President Biden recently signed the $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act into law. It was the culmination of more than a year of bipartisan, bicameral negotiations to craft comprehensive innovation and competition legislation. As we previously reported, the new law includes a historic investment in domestic semiconductor manufacturing and the nation’s pursuit of science and technology leadership. But there’s another aspect of the bill that hasn’t garnered much media attention: it is permeated with provisions to expand opportunities to Americans who have been underrepresented in science and technology.

The CHIPS and Science Act is the most comprehensive effort in history to create opportunities in science and technology for women, people of color, and other underrepresented groups. The new law will advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in science and technology by:

  • Creating new research, invention, and entrepreneurial opportunities;
  • Authorizing $13 billion for STEM and invention education and providing teachers with the necessary resources to expand STEM;
  • Expanding access to the skills and training needed to join the scientific workforce;
  • Ensuring that people of color and other underrepresented groups have information about these opportunities;
  • Funding research on diversity and inclusion in the tech sector and sexual harassment in STEM fields;
  • Making federal agency policy and personnel changes related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, including developing caregiver policies for all science agencies and creating a position for a Chief Diversity Officer at the National Science Foundation (NSF)—the nation’s chief science agency; and
  • Recognizing the importance of diversity and inclusion in national science and technology strategies.

Continue Reading More than Semiconductors and Science:  New Law Recognizes Role of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in America’s Global Competitiveness


Continue Reading Congressional Pandemic Oversight Bodies Begin to Take Shape

On March 30, 2020, the inspectors general of several major agencies selected the Department of Defense Inspector General, Glenn Fine, to lead a newly created federal oversight entity that will investigate waste, fraud, and abuse in connection with the massive new coronavirus economic relief legislation. The inspectors general were exercising
Continue Reading Past as Prologue: The Wave of Investigations to Follow the Pandemic Recovery and Actions that Companies Can Take Now to Prepare


Continue Reading Past as Prologue: The Wave of Investigations to Follow the Pandemic Recovery and Actions that Companies Can Take Now to Prepare

Consistent with popular predictions and our prior posts, Congress made drug pricing a key item on its investigative agenda in the first year of the 116th Congress.  Several factors contributed to the uptick in congressional drug pricing oversight activity, including the elevation of new Democratic chairs in the House
Continue Reading Drug Pricing Investigations in the 116th Congress