The Mission, Composition, Structure, Relationship with the Regulatory Affairs Committee, and Role of the Subcommittee and information as to how NCSBCS private sector members can Sign-Up to serve on the new body are detailed below. Private sector information technology firms not currently organizational members of NCSBCS can become members by completing the NCSBCS Membership Application Form.

The Information Technology Industry Advisory Subcommittee
to the Regulatory Affairs Committee

Mission:  Provide a venue through which the nation’s information technology industry (hardware, software and intermediate-ware community) can work together to provide input to state and local governments in identifying actions to overcome barriers to the effective and efficient use of information technology in the nation’s building regulatory process.

Composition:  The Information Technology Industry Advisory Subcommittee (ITIAS) shall be open to all private sector organizational members of the National Conference of States on Building Codes and Standards whose firms are involved in developing, providing information technology services (hardware, software, intermediate-ware) to state and local government.

To join the Subcommittee such members must be current in their annual assessment, have completed and submitted to the Executive Director of NCSBCS an Advisory Subcommittee Membership Application, and be prepared to support their active participation on the Advisory Subcommittee.  This includes travel to subcommittee meetings and participation on conference calls.  (Click here for Application form.)

Structure:  As with other NCSBCS standing and ad hoc committees, the Information Technology Industry Advisory Subcommittee will be overseen by a Chair and Vice Chair who shall be drawn from the Subcommittee members. Individuals wishing to serve in that capacity must submit their name along with their qualifications to the President of NCSBCS for his/her consideration in making those appointments.

The Chair and Vice Chair may not be from the same firm. Term of office is for two years, commencing with the 2003 NCSBCS Annual Conference and ending with the close of the Annual Conference in 2005.

Relationship with the Regulatory Affairs Committee:

The NCSBCS Regulatory Affairs Committee is the oldest standing committee of the Conference.  Its members are comprised of all of the state and local building regulatory officials who are members of the Conference.

The role of the Regulatory Affairs Committee is to identify and discuss areas in the administration, adoption and enforcement of construction codes and standards that are of concern to state and local governments and to consider coordinated actions to address those issues.

Past activities have included: homeland security concerns of state and local governments; enhancing working relationships between building and fire code officials; the need for greater interstate reciprocity for factory-built structures; and areas of regulatory overlap and duplication between federal, state and local governments.

NCSBCS programs or initiatives that have emerged out of the work of the Regulatory Affairs Committee have included: model energy conservation code for new construction in the United States; the Industrialized Buildings Commission – an Interstate Compact; the Streamlining the Nation’s Building Regulatory Process project; the National Alliance for Building Regulatory Reform in the Digital Age; and reports to the National Governors Association on code uniformity issues currently before the governors and legislators of the States.

Role of the Information Technology Industry Advisory Subcommittee
in its Relationship with the Regulatory Affairs Committee

The role of the Information Technology Industry Advisory Subcommittee is to provide specific recommendations to the members of the Regulatory Affairs Committee on actions that state and local governments can take, either individually or collectively, to make greater and more effective and efficient use of information technology in the building regulatory process.

NCSBCS state and local government members on the Regulatory Affairs Committee initially are seeking Advisory Subcommittee input on the following topics:

1. Support in building the business case to elected officials regarding the acquisition and use of hardware, software and intermediate-ware for use in their building regulatory processes.
2. Support in developing guidelines to identify when and where regulatory restructuring is necessary for state and local governments to make effective use of information technology in the building regulatory process.
3. Industry input on the development and use of an interoperability statement in future information technology procurements by state and local governments. (Follow-up work from the New York City Summit on Streamlining the Nation’s Building Regulatory Process Through Interoperability.)
4. Industry input for recommendations to state and local government on ways in which they can make more effective use of information technology in their building codes adoption, administration and enforcement processes.

Other topics about which the Regulatory Affairs Committee will seek input will be generated by either the Regulatory Affairs Committee and/or the Advisory Subcommittee

Guidelines for Subcommittee Members Regarding
Representation of their Status on the Advisory Subcommittee

In joining the subcommittee, NCSBCS private sector organizational members from the information technology community will complete and sign the subcommittee membership form and a statement in which the member firm understands and acknowledges they are not in any way to misrepresent their participation on the Advisory Subcommittee as an endorsement of their product or services by the National Conference of States on Building Codes and Standards, the NCSBCS Regulatory Affairs Committee, or by the NCSBCS Board of Directors in any of their literature or promotional materials. 

To join, please complete the application form and fax to (703) 481-3596. 

An organizational conference call for the Information Technology Industry Advisory Subcommittee of the Regulatory Affairs Committee will be held during the first full week of January 2004. The date will be posted on the NCSBCS website in mid-December and distributed to all Subcommittee members.