The Edge January/February 2026

once something horrible is about to impact your business. “Your presence in the room is import ant, and we can take it from there,” Mann says. “If you want to speak up, if you have something to add to the conversation, by all means make your point. Advocate on behalf of your business. You’re the expert at your business. You know your business better than anybody else.” TE

their staff member prior to when the committee hearing occurs,” Mann says. “We’re talking in positive tones, construc tive tones. We want to educate. We want to illuminate, and we don’t want to be derisive of the other side either.” Mann says the vast majority of neg ative legislation doesn’t come to pass thanks to the government affairs team’s efforts and their ability to draw upon members in that state. He adds that money should never be a roadblock to landscape companies participating in the political process. It’s more important to contribute your time. “You make time for what’s important,” Mann says. “Everybody gets 24 hours, and usually if you’re not participating in the political process, it’s not because you don’t have the time. It’s that you haven’t prioritized it.” Mann stresses you have to invest the time early on. You can’t start caring only

call Jill and ask Jill what she thinks of this. Jill knows what she’s talking about,’” Mann says. “It would be the same as if somebody came to you and had a ques tion about medicine, and you said, ‘Well, I’m not exactly a doctor, but let’s ask the doctor what he or she thinks.’” Mann says simply paying atten tion and being involved in your local community can help prevent many negative pieces of legislation from being introduced. “The idea is to kill any of these bad ideas before they ever see the light of day,” Mann says. Thankfully, there are many instances where troublesome bills never require any major intervention because they don’t go anywhere. “You want to kill it early, and you want to kill it dead, and the best way to do that is to have a substantive conversa tion with either the elected official or

 KEY TAKEAWAYS ■ Staying informed and en

alert them early about proposed regulations.

gaged locally helps pre vent harmful legislation before it gains traction. ■ NALP’s government af fairs team can only act ef fectively when members

■ Building local recog nition as an industry

expert strengthens your influence with elected officials.

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