Political Advocacy

ABC Central Florida

ABC is Florida’s largest professional management association of commercial, industrial and institutional general contractors, specialty contractors, associates and suppliers.

Ranked by the U.S. Congress among the most influential organizations in the country, ABC was founded on and remains committed to our three-fold mission of safety and skills training, government and political affairs, and business development.

2022 Legislative Priorities

The Legislative Agenda for ABC of Florida is determined by you - our members - during our annual Legislative Planning Conference as part of the Summer State Convention. Members from all five chapters vet issues, debate priorities, and then vote on specific bill or legislative efforts we will champion.

ABC of Florida made the conscious decision to file fewer "ABC" bills this session. This is because for the last five years, we have passed nearly all of our priorities in some form and have tackled many of our big topics. For those we have yet to completely tackle - Apprenticeship Education Funding, Liability Issues (Statute of Repose, Chapter 558 Construction Defects, Statute of Limitations), we thought it appropriate to take a step back from filing a stand-alone bill. While it is not uncommon for big issues to require many sessions to pass, it can be helpful to take a step back, let the issue breath, and re-evaluate the approach so that when we do come back to the issue, it is with fresh eyes and open ears.

The "ABC" Bills

Owner Direct Purchase Reform - House Bill 589/SB 930 (Representative Harding/Senator Hooper)

The Owner Direct Purchase process, as utilized on projects, continues to be a source of frustration to our members. There are rules in existence that dictate what MUST happen on a project once it is designated as an ODP sales tax exempt project. Yet we continue to hear about existing confusion by the owner as to their role under and ODP, or, that there is the intent by the owner to shift responsibilities and liabilities to the GC and their team even though it is an ODP project.

This legislation re-clarifies that, under no circumstances, can the responsibilities, the risk of exposure, or the liability for the material supply orders be shifted from the owner to the GC and their team.

Building Department Practices - House Bill 1281/SB 976 (Representative DiCeglie/Senator Perry)

We have passed comprehensive policy relating to the practices of Building Departments during the last five years. This bill reflect some lingering areas of concern that we have yet to address.

Under existing regulations, public bids must be publicly noticed - yet many public owners require vendors to utilize a paid subscription service in order to access this public project information. This bill clarifies that project opportunities cannot be made "public" via a paid subscription service.

We also are seeing increased situations where individual departments continue to make design change requirements on projects when the project is near completion. If a department has already signed off on project design and scope, and the contractor and their team is building to the approved design, changes should not be allowed at the end of the project unless extensions of time, and increases in cost and compensation are contemplated.