71 – Legislative Conference (LegCon) 2026

In the first episode of the year, Peter and Sonny dive into what we are expecting for the upcoming LegCon 2026, which will take place in Tallahassee from January 21st to 22nd. They delve into what usually happens at one of these events, why, and what we aim to accomplish for our chapter and for the benefit of our members. You are still in time to participate if you are interested, click here.

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Transcript

Sonny Maken 0:10

Welcome to the Obvious Podcast, episode number 71. My name is Sonny Maken, COO at ABC Florida East Coast.

Peter Dyga 0:17

And I'm Peter Daigo, president and CEO at ABC Florida East Coast. Happy Friday, Sonny.

Sonny Maken 0:24

Happy Friday. Before we go on, let me just remind everybody all opinions are our own or our guests, but we'll let you know.

Peter Dyga 0:32

Unless we say otherwise, and if you love the show, we ask you to subscribe on all major podcast platforms or watch us in action on YouTube. Follow the Obvious Podcast on Instagram, X and True Social. All the links you need are in the show notes. And you can reach out to us anytime at the Obvious at abc eastflorida.com. And if you're enjoying the ride, help others find us by leaving a review wherever you listen. So I understand from our producer, Sonny, that we kind of hit a milestone uh a few weeks back or recently, which is pretty cool, right? So what was it? 5,000, 5,000 downloads.

Sonny Maken 1:07

5,000 downloads just on the audio version. So that, you know, that was usually like our slower um format in terms of gaining traction and gaining popularity. Uh, but we hit that number fairly fast when the show really started to take off and and we started making more and more content. So thank you to our audience for that. Uh, we're proud of that accomplishment. Uh, we're being told it's a big deal to hit that number. And uh, we look forward to giving you uh more as the time goes on.

Peter Dyga 1:38

I'm gonna um uh give our producer a a uh assignment, which is to kind of reach out to ABC National and see if anybody's aware of how many podcasts different chapters around the country do. Um, because I'd be curious, um, you know, to the to the the point of uh podcast is no good if you're not reaching people, you know. So uh I'm curious if uh national has any data on how many may have started, how many are still going, you know, and whether we're which I I uh would be willing to wager uh we're probably at the top, if not near the top, uh, you know, in terms of the effectiveness, the reach, if you will, of the podcast. So in any event, kudos to the producer and and uh yeah, they've done a great job behind the seeds. Yep.

Sonny Maken 2:26

And kudos to the talent. Let's not forget, you know. I mean, a lot of this now you're pushing it.

Peter Dyga 2:32

Talent? I don't know.

Sonny Maken 2:33

So any event. Uh but yeah, it's a new year, so you know, we're gonna talk about something that we're excited about. It is annual ABC Florida East Coast Legislative Conference in Tallahassee, uh, which is happening January 20th.

Peter Dyga 2:50

Well, as much as we'd like to take credit for it, it's really the ABC of Florida Ledge Con.

Sonny Maken 2:54

Oh, ABC of Florida Legend. You're right. But yeah, an important company. Yep, it's a very important conference. Um, and I just wanted to kind of you know talk about it a little bit, let our audience know what it is, what it looks like, what it entails, why it's important. But I also wanted to get your perspective on it because I 27 years ago you started your career as the government affairs director. So I'm super curious as to kind of how it's changed and grown and the impact that you've seen in all of your time at ABC uh in Tallahassee. And for those of us who live down south, it's a it's a nice opportunity to experience some cold weather without you know having it be brutal. Well, one year I remember we went, it was like five to ten degrees, and it was like shockingly cold.

Peter Dyga 3:41

Yeah, like is often the case in Florida, it's kind of a roll of the dice, right? So yeah, well, this conference is either usually in January or March, depending on uh, I don't know how many people first of all maybe a little history, Sonny. Yeah. Um the Florida legislature.

Sonny Maken 3:55

Before you get into that, I do want to share the story with the audience. Last year it snowed in Tallahassee, right? And then as our audience knows, I have a daughter who's studying at Florida State. She calls me because she has using her hands scraped the snow off her car, but her windshield is iced up and she doesn't know what to do, right? And I my first thought is like, what do you mean you don't know what to do? You don't know where the defroster is. And then I it hits me that this whole time I had never told her about the defroster. Because it never occurred to me that there would be a button she would need to use. So I was like, okay, FaceTime me, get in the car, I'll show you. And she's watching this thing melt, and she is so impressed. She's like, This is great. I'm like, sweetie, this is how yeah, the rest of the country deals with iced over vehicles.

Peter Dyga 4:40

Just so you know, yeah, it's an interesting story because we you know, there's probably a lot of people who aren't familiar with Florida geography itself don't realize. Don't realize, you know, that you get in the northern part of the states multiple days a year below freezing, you know. So I mean, there are parts of the state that get quite cold. I wouldn't say snow is a regular, it's pretty odd, it's an oddity, regardless of you know, even until Hassan was an oddity. Yeah, so but it does get cold in parts of the state for uh, you know, more and more seasonal, so in parts of the year as opposed to where we're at, which is more tropical. Yep.

Sonny Maken 5:12

Um, so I remember I remember we had uh the coldest meeting I remember, we had a member who had the the heaviest thing he had was a suit jacket, and that's it. Was come you know, was flabbergasted by how cold he was.

Peter Dyga 5:25

Yeah. And you can't really, if you're not prepared, unfortunately, in Tallahassee, there is a a bit of a block or two of walking back and forth between the Castle at meetings and and usually our uh you know receptions or and or the host hotel or whatnot. So warmly. Yeah, absolutely. Because you you know you don't know what you're gonna get. Although, you know, maybe I guess if you check a few days beforehand, you might be able to pack a little more accordingly. But it's um the legislature meets. I don't know, a lot of people probably are unaware, but um the constitution of the state of Florida uh dictates that the legislature meets only for 60 days a year. So and then 60 days uh for many, many, many decades was always uh, I think the first Tuesday after the first Monday in March, and then it ran for 60 days. But a while back the legislature changed so that during election years, they move it up by uh 60 days. So I think it's the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January. And what's the reason for that? Well, they needed to get out and campaign earlier. So, you know, during election year, if they waited until March, it wouldn't be done until early May, and that just kind of didn't give them enough time. So the reason in an election year, and which are even numbered years, as 2026 is, uh the legislature begins in early January, which means it could be even I don't know if January would be colder or March would be colder, but either one of them, you could ended end up with some cold weather, as some of our members have been shocked by, I think, in in years past. So, but anyway, this is a spectacular conference. I just say it's you know one of the many arrows in our quiver over the years that kind of has grown uh ABC's influence and our um our our leadership as you know, or our uh role as thought leaders, if you will, in the construction industry. Um a lot of people, I think, of our listeners know that you know, prior to coming to work for ABC, I actually worked for the legislature. So I was on kind of the receiving end of conferences like this. And it's uh uh it's a handful of groups that would bring the kind of numbers of people that we bring up, which is really cool, you know, to have um contractors from around the state, you know, come come together and then meet with their uh legislators, which is what we do. We kind of call it become a lobbyist for the day. And a lot of people are intimidated by that. But I think almost universally, anybody you speak to that's done this finds it very rewarding and usually comes back. So, I mean, I guess right out the gate, you know, I think Sonny and I want to invite anybody who's listening uh who's never done this to we still could probably squeeze in um the Ford East Coast chapter and our leadership is really awesome because we will have and we support financially and through the budget process a number of YPs on our YP committee as well as graduates of our Leadership ABC program. They come up as well. Uh, what's that old program, Sonny, that you know, used to bring up young kids, you know, to to the Capitol and Oh yeah. Kind of reminds me of that, right? I mean, I'll start young kids anymore. These are uh adults. But yeah, it's uh we will have a decent contingent of that. You know, I oftentimes also refer to you don't really think necessarily of everything ABC does as networking, but really it is.

Sonny Maken 8:39

Yeah.

Peter Dyga 8:40

And so not only are you doing great work from a lobbying perspective and helping us change uh, you know, the laws or prevent bad change to the laws, uh, sometimes just as uh frequently as getting something positive done, you know, you're stopping bad stuff from happening. Um, but you're not only doing that, you're spending uh a day and a half, you know, with some of the best, uh most influential, high-profile leaders in the industry around the state. So it's a great networking event as well. So any event, we invite anybody who's never never attended, uh, we'll squeeze you in, we'll get you up there.

Sonny Maken 9:12

So how how has the conference changed since your time as the Garmer Affairs Director?

Peter Dyga 9:19

Um, well, I remember um I guess the first one that um I was promoting as a staff person was probably the 2000 one, since I started in the summer, which would have been after the the cut, because they were doing it when I when I started with ABC, but it it was small. So I would say over the years it's grown and then kind of reached a plateau. Uh it's kind of been one of my um you know frustrations is I, you know, I I think we can do larger, but quite frankly, it it has its own challenges from a hotel perspective. Um, you know, everybody in the state, a lot of different organizations are trying to travel for that 60-day period up to Tallahassee and trying to get more than the one or two hotels that we already get, you know, in terms of the room block is very challenging. So um, but still, we we would find out a way if we could uh consistently, you know, grow this a little larger than it's been. So because it seems like it's reached a plateau in the last few years. You know, I I think I've mentioned to you, Sonny, and uh uh our uh listeners over the years that I remember a tremendous amount of confusion about who ABC was when I first started. Uh I I I I immediately picked up on our biggest challenge is people understanding who we were, which which is the commercial side of construction. Uh the home builders were uh they're still a significant organization, but they were, I think, they would admit, um, you know, back in the 2000s were just uh Bohemuts. Yeah, really uh yeah, bohemuts in state politics and whatnot. And and uh maybe we benefited from that. You know, the people just kind of associated us with them. But you know, I kind of immediately um embarked on, you know, a an effort to try to distinguish and brand who we were as commercial contractors, and that was kind of the um invention of the phrase to the voice of commercial construction. Um and I know in love with, right? Yeah, yeah. It's kind of a branding that I helped uh come up with that. I know it was limiting because our members aren't just commercial, they can be industrial and institutional and other stuff. But anyway, it it uh it accomplished what needed to be accomplished. So we've tried different creative things, you know, over the years, like wearing hard hats, you know, into the Capitol, which you know, um is difficult to get members to want to do it, but it was very effective in my book. Um when you have a a hundred people or so walking around the Capitol with hard hats, it seems like a thousand. Yeah. You know, it's it it's you know, you uh you stand down and it just has a bigger impact.

Sonny Maken 11:50

So I mean the farmers do it with the cowboy hats.

Peter Dyga 11:52

They do. And there's you know, there's always um I remember, I don't remember what year it was, but I think it was back in those days when the home builders were a little more influential. They had their members for one campaign like mail up uh sections of two by fours, you know, maybe a six-foot section or something when put an address on it, you know, and they were getting all these like two by fours, you know, small sections of it mailed. And it's creative things like that that, you know, wearing hard hats or whatever it may be. But that's changed in Tallahassee too, right? There was a day when the gifts and the lobbying laws and rules were a little different, and you would have you still have a lot of um local governments and and organizations have their day on the hill, if you will, which is kind of what we're doing, you know, right? What ABC of Florida is doing. Uh, but in the past, sometimes it would be, you know, um, you know, they would have food that they would offer and you know all sorts of other things. Um there's a by the way, there's an state apprenticeship day, you know, that we participate in every year as well. So any event, it's not uncommon for different interests and different organizations to have their day. So we we invite we invite people up. By the way, you're never left alone. A lot of people feel intimidated by the process, and it's like you will be paired. We have to split up. I think most of the larger chapters have to split up because the geographic region they cover is just too many, too many elected officials to try to meet with, you know, in the day and a half. Uh so we split it up and we're we make sure somebody, either a very experienced member or a staff person, is with every group. So you're you're never left alone and you might feel unsure, I think initially, but by the end of the day, oh yeah, you're hopefully chiming in and giving your kind of experiences, you know, and how these different things we're pursuing legislatively impact you as a business. Because that's the real that's the real bottom line. That's what we want by you attending.

Sonny Maken 13:42

So yeah, because we can, as staff, uh uh do all these meetings, we can have these conversations, we can enlighten them. But there's something very valuable that happens when uh our members and their constituents like meet and they talk face to face and talk directly. You know, besides sort of the relationship building that occurs with uh uh with the elected official, that's just the the way the information and the knowledge and the perspectives transfer. It's it's really fascinating to watch. That's exactly right.

Peter Dyga 14:10

So and I want to people might be asking where they can find out more information, then go to abcflorida.com. So the ABC of Florida, which is again the legislative um uh mouthpiece, if you will, um of the five chapters in the state of Florida. So if you go to abcflorida.com, there's some information there on the conference and registering and what our priorities are and whatnot.

Sonny Maken 14:33

So what are what are the uh priorities and how have you seen them change over the years? Um the priorities.

Peter Dyga 14:39

I think we have time to get into every every single thing, but yeah, that's a that's a that's a that's a great question. So um, you know, over the years, and my from my perspective, uh sometimes they've been more mundane, general business related issues that not only the construction industry but or commercial construction industry, but also the residential and uh and perhaps uh business community in general, you know, like uh in years past when we had challenges with workers' compensation and you know the rates were skyrocketing and it was becoming a huge uh cost driver in the in the business. Um, you know, so sometimes it would be you know more general business related items, and sometimes it's more parochial, it's more specific to construction. Yeah, whether it's a lien laws. There's there's some things it seems like every year uh you know, there's uh we have to keep our eye on, and or we have a bill uh either pertaining to the lien law or the statute of repose or you know, some of the things that um are so important to uh this industry and its success at the state level. So um so yeah, I mean it's it's changed over the years. And then there's been years where uh there was much more greater, I'm gonna call it red meat, you know, kind of related issues. Uh, you know, in years past when we were um successful uh in making Florida a um a right, a not well Florida's always better right-to-work state, but uh the our national office was trying to get as many states as possible to adopt uh in you know a free market um anti-project labor agreement, you know, legislation is possible, and we were successful then. And sometimes those issues are much more red meat in the sense of they pit labor, you know, against uh management, if you will. So any event, that's kind of how I in my you know these issues have uh changed over the years. Uh sometimes they're more mundane and and more just general business oriented as opposed to uh construction or or red meat, if you will.

Sonny Maken 16:37

So I do want to share uh that your your comment there just reminded me of uh speech Mike Pence. I don't know if you remember who Mike Pence was, he was vice president uh under first uh Trump administration.

Peter Dyga 16:51

And yeah, he may be running for president again. Who knows?

Sonny Maken 16:53

Right. Who knows? And uh by the way, I heard he started uh a new thinking tank just to compete with heritage. To compete with heritage. To compete with heritage and is pushing a lot of their people. That'll be on a different episode.

Peter Dyga 17:06

Uh I wonder what heritage what does heritage do that that he feels like needs competing against. I wonder.

Sonny Maken 17:13

I think he sees them as two pro-Trump and therefore too pro more of the controversial elements on that whole movement.

Peter Dyga 17:22

So you know you looked up the exact quote. I've I think I've quoted it in the past, which uh it's it's I mean it's admirable to me. And I think for him to have uh and and we've had him and and presidents in the past, Reagan and Bush and all sorts of the great leaders in the Senate and the House speak to ABC when we go to Washington for our legislative conference, which again, similar to what we do in Tallahassee, happens every year, usually in June. So but what was the exact quote he said, which again, I I'm c I'm constantly reminding people of of what about us made a leader like that say what he said. Right. And it's not because we're timid or because we we lick our finger and stick it up to the wind to try to find which way the the prevailing winds are blowing. That's not ABC, and that's kind of reflective, I think, in his quote.

Sonny Maken 18:14

So Marine Corps, he said, I want to thank the Marine Corps of American politics, the first on the beach for freedom in the workplace, the associated builders and contractors of America for their service to the nation and the communities where they live and work. The truth is that the members of ABC fight for a stronger and more prosperous America. We're coming alongside men and women like me and my family each and every day. And I'm going to make you a promise. This was 2017, he's saying uh President Donald Trump is fighting every day for Olify and the values of this great organization. It's amazing to think for more than 65 years, ABC has stood without apology for the time under principles of open competition and free enterprise.

Peter Dyga 19:00

That's beautiful. Yeah. Yep. So anyway, help us in Tallahassee to, you know, there's there's not a lot of organizations. We've talked a lot about this, Sonny, in private, you and I. You know, and even with some of our members. You know, there aren't a lot of organizations that are so principle driven, much much less guided by the the principles, the values, and the mission of the meritocracy and the free markets. You know, do we need to tear down, you know, the one last bastion.

Sonny Maken 19:29

Yeah, the one last bastion left. No. Um, I'm I'm gonna share a story with you. I don't know if you can if you're watching this on YouTube, you can see the sticker behind me. It says Reagan Bush 1984. This is an original 1984, and and as you be or any uh watch this show any amount of time, you know I'm not a big Bush fan, father or son. But I'm a big Reagan fan. But what I wanted to share with you is this is an actual bumper sticker from 1984, and the reason it's here is we found a stack of these in storage at ABC. So we have a long history of supporting free market and and competition.

Peter Dyga 20:05

Yeah, we were probably taking hits then too, no doubt. Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure. You know, and by the way, people that didn't live it, you know, um Reagan was crucified by the media, just like every Republican front runner is today. You know, remember the whole, you know, uh, you know, he's gonna he's gonna cause nuclear war. I mean, there's certain there's certain arguments that you can count on. Right. And and you're gonna hear it every four years.

Sonny Maken 20:28

Yep. They're all reaches that they're gonna get us killed.

Peter Dyga 20:31

Republicans are, you know, making old people decide between health care and dog food, or eating and and eating dog food, and uh, you know, so they're gonna kill Social Security. It's like you can set your watch by these arguments.

Sonny Maken 20:42

Yeah, they had mid romp you pushing grandma off a cliff, remember?

Peter Dyga 20:45

Yeah, and killing dogs, putting them on his roof, and I don't know about that. Uh we invite you to uh please join us um in in the next week or two. Um when when exactly is our our uh LegCon date? Do you remember what you did? Yeah, it's January 20th. So uh so you still have time and we'll squeeze you in. We'd love to have you, and I guarantee you you'll find a rewarding experience. And on top of that, you're gonna be doing some great good for the industry.

Sonny Maken 21:12

So absolutely. Well, thank you for your time, and uh, we hope you enjoyed the show, and we will see you next Friday.

Peter Dyga 21:18

Sounds good. Take care.