Nixon Peabody Hired by Texas Grocery Chain for JOBS Act Lobbying Effort

Nixon Peabody has disclosed that it is lobbying in Washington for a Texas-based supermarket chain.

The firm this week filed a lobbying registration report with Congress that revealed its advocacy for privately owned Brookshire Grocery Co. on a Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act provision that increased the threshold through which companies must disclose details on their finances to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Companies previously had to file with the SEC if they had at least 500 investors. Now, they can conceal information on their finances until they have 2,000 or more non-employee investors under the legislation that President Barack Obama signed into law this month.

Neither Nixon Peabody counsel Douglas Dziak, who is handling the account, nor a company representative could immediately be reached for comment.

Last year, Dziak lobbied on matters related to the JOBS Act provision for convenience store operator WaWa Inc. and supermarket chain Wegmans Food Markets Inc., congressional records show. WaWa and Wegmans are privately held companies.

Nixon Peabody is the first firm to lobby the federal government for Brookshire, according to congressional lobbying records that date to 1999. The company has 120 stores in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas.