The House passed a bill on June 3rd that Blind Trust's sector model flags as touching the Energy and Utilities sectors. It cleared 374-49, which is about as close to unanimous as a body of 435 people ever gets. Two sitting members who voted yes, Rick Larsen and Ro Khanna, have disclosed holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc., the largest utility company in the United States by market capitalization. The filings are public. The vote is public. The holdings are public. What you do with the overlap is your business.
The Bill Itself
H.R. 2860, the Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative Reauthorization Act of 2025, sailed through the House on a 374-49 vote. Yes, that's a bill about a marine conservation initiative in the Pacific Northwest. Blind Trust's sector-classification engine flags it as touching the Energy and Utilities sectors.
The Northwest Straits region spans northern Puget Sound and the waters between Washington State and British Columbia. The marine conservation initiative that HR.2860 reauthorizes coordinates local advisory bodies across eight counties to study and protect those waters. Coastal water quality, shoreline management, and marine habitat rules all have downstream effects on how utilities site infrastructure, manage water intake and discharge, and comply with environmental permitting in the Pacific Northwest corridor.
NextEra Energy runs regulated electric utilities across Florida and carries a sprawling renewable-energy portfolio that makes it the country's largest producer of wind and solar power. It's not a Pacific Northwest company in any meaningful sense. But it's a regulated utility operating under the exact kinds of federal and state environmental frameworks that marine conservation legislation can touch at the margins. Regulatory perimeter, not direct exposure. A utility holding in a utility-adjacent vote is the specific kind of thing disclosure rules were invented to surface.
Who Holds What
Per their disclosed filings on Blind Trust, two sitting House members carry NextEra Energy in their portfolios.
Rick Larsen represents Washington's 2nd Congressional District, which includes Whatcom and Skagit counties — both Northwest Straits counties. The counties the bill is literally about. He voted Yea.
Ro Khanna represents Silicon Valley's 17th District in California. He sits on committees with jurisdiction over energy matters and has been a vocal advocate for the clean energy transition. He holds NextEra Energy. He voted Yea.
Two holders. Two Yea votes. A 374-49 final tally that never needed either of their votes to clear the chamber.
The Larsen Angle Is the Sharpest One
Larsen's situation is the more pointed of the two. This bill reauthorizes a conservation initiative operating directly inside his district. He represents Whatcom, Skagit, San Juan, and Island counties — the counties the Northwest Straits Commission works within. Voting Yea on a bill that benefits your constituents is, in isolation, exactly what a member is supposed to do.
The holding adds texture. NextEra's regulated electric business operates under environmental compliance frameworks that federal conservation legislation shapes. A member who holds a regulated utility stock and votes on conservation reauthorization affecting regulatory baselines for the utility sector is not necessarily doing anything beyond their job. The disclosure rules exist so voters can see both facts simultaneously and form their own view.
Members are required to disclose. They are not required to divest, recuse, abstain, or look up from their phones. That's the rule.
The Khanna Angle Is the Broader One
Khanna's connection to HR.2860 is geographically remote — Silicon Valley has no particular stake in Puget Sound marine conservation — but his energy-policy posture makes the NextEra holding a more interesting data point on its own. He's been among the most vocal House members on clean energy investment, offshore wind permitting reform, and federal support for renewable buildout. NextEra is the country's dominant renewable energy developer, with more wind capacity than any other American company.
A congressman who champions clean energy as a policy priority and holds the stock of the company that profits most directly from clean energy policy is not, on its face, compromised. It might even be ideologically consistent. The clean-energy reform coalition on the Hill and the clean-energy investment portfolio have significant overlap, and the public filings are where that overlap becomes visible.
Khanna voted Yea on HR.2860. NextEra sits squarely in the policy environment this legislation touches. The interpretation is yours.
The 374-49 Context
When a bill passes 374-49, it passes because the vast majority of both parties decided it was worth their vote. Neither Larsen's nor Khanna's Yea moved the outcome.
What the margin doesn't change: the holdings exist. The vote happened. The sector tag is what it is. Whether a member's portfolio influences their vote, or whether their vote would have been identical without the portfolio, is a question public filings cannot answer. The filings can only tell you the position was there when the vote was cast.
The STOCK Act exists because Congress decided, in 2012, that simultaneous holding and voting required at minimum a paper trail visible to the public. The paper trail is functioning correctly.
The Institutional Picture
A regulated utility holding in a chamber where you vote on regulatory and environmental legislation is not a novel situation. Members of Congress collectively hold hundreds of individual stocks. The House votes on thousands of bills per session. The overlap between what members hold and what they vote on is, mathematically, guaranteed to be extensive.
The STOCK Act's disclosure requirement was sold as transparency, and it delivers transparency. Recusal is optional. Divestiture is optional. Blind trusts are optional. The disclosure is mandatory, and that's where the mandate stops.
NextEra Energy's stock performance is tied to interest rates, federal renewable energy policy, permitting reform, and the regulatory treatment of its Florida utility subsidiaries. Any legislation touching energy sector regulatory frameworks is, at some level, relevant to a NextEra position. HR.2860 is more tangential than a direct energy bill would be — but tangential is still on the map.
Two members hold NextEra Energy. The House passed a bill in the energy and utilities space. Both voted Yea on a bill that cleared 374-49.
The receipts are public. Readers get to bring their own opinion.