Why It Matters

A Dominant Client Lost

The Georgia lobbying client termination is a significant blow to inSession Strategies' bottom line. According to the state of Georgia lobbying disclosure record and related filings, the State of Georgia accounted for roughly 64 percent of the firm's disclosed quarterly revenue in 2025 — $52,500 out of $82,500 per quarter. The firm's only other client, the Georgia Port Authority, paid $30,000 per quarter. This contract was also terminated.

Over the full arc of the engagement — from the 2022 registration through the final 2025 fourth quarter filing — inSession Strategies collected approximately $795,000 from the State of Georgia. The quarterly fee started at $45,000 and increased to $52,500 beginning in the fourth quarter of 2023, where it remained through the termination.

The sole lobbyist on every filing was Ben Ayres, a former Legislative Assistant to Sen. David Perdue (R-GA), who served in that role from October 2019 through February 2020. Ayres is the only registered lobbyist associated with the firm across all disclosed activity.

No New Firm Identified

The available lobbying disclosure data does not show Georgia retaining a replacement firm to cover the same issue areas. No new registrations or filings on behalf of the State of Georgia by another lobbying firm appear in the records associated with this termination.

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Broader Context

When Georgia registered inSession Strategies in mid-2022, the work centered on two enacted laws: the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684) and the American Rescue Plan Act (H.R. 1319). Both had already passed Congress — the lobbying was focused on implementation: securing favorable guidance, funding allocations, and regulatory decisions that would direct dollars toward Georgia.

That work continued through the fourth quarter of 2024 with no disclosed change in focus. Then, in the first quarter of 2025, the inSession Strategies Georgia lobbying agenda shifted. The firm's filing for that quarter described the work as "monitoring Congressional activity related to federal funding and appropriations measures with potential impacts on the State of Georgia" and "advocacy regarding federal disaster relief efforts related to hurricane impacts" — a reference to Hurricane Helene, which struck Georgia in the fall of 2024.

The remaining 2025 filings — all signed on the same date, May 3, 2025 — listed no specific issues lobbied, though each reported the standard $52,500 fee. A 2026 first quarter filing was also submitted the same day under the same terms.

The lobbying issues that drove the engagement have changed materially since 2022. The American Rescue Plan's State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds had an obligation deadline of December 31, 2024, effectively closing out the active advocacy phase of that work. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act remains in play — FHWA authorizations run through September 30, 2026 — but the political environment around those funds has grown more complicated.

President Trump signed an executive order in January 2025 directing agencies to pause disbursement of IIJA funds, creating uncertainty for states that had been counting on that money. For Georgia, which stands to receive substantial annual formula funding under the law, the threat to those dollars represents a live and ongoing federal policy concern.

At the same time, federal disaster relief for Hurricane Helene remains an active issue. FEMA has approved more than $614 million in disaster assistance for Georgia stemming from Helene and Tropical Storm Debby, with ongoing questions about federal appropriations and budget stability affecting the flow of those funds.

Congressional Mentions

Congressional hearing records show the State of Georgia was referenced in several hearings that may fall within the relevant period, including a hearing titled *Fees and Foreign Influence: Examining the Panama Canal and Its Impact on U.S. Trade and National Security* — relevant given the prominence of the Port of Savannah — and a hearing on *Oversight of the Office of Special Counsel Jack Smith*, where Georgia's state-level prosecution of former President Trump intersected with the federal proceedings. A third hearing examined the impact of recent changes to programs assisting low-income families, with two separate Member statements referencing Georgia.

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The Bottom Line

It is unclear how Georgia plans to manage its ongoing federal advocacy needs particularly when it comes to infrastructure funding protection and disaster relief

The political calculus has changed: the current battles for Georgia involve protecting federal funding streams from a Republican administration's spending freezes and budget cuts, a different kind of advocacy challenge than the one the firm was originally retained to address.

Whether Georgia is consolidating its federal lobbying through other channels, managing the work in-house, or has simply not yet filed paperwork for a new firm is not apparent from the available records. What is clear from the lobbying disclosure agreement termination filing is that a three-year, nearly $800,000 federal lobbying relationship has come to an end — at a moment when Georgia's stakes in Washington are arguably higher than they have been in years.

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