A Report to the National Governors Association

Enhancing Public Safety and the States’ Role in the Global Economy Through Uniform Construction Codes and Standards

 

 

Included in this issue -

 

Attachment A: Code Issues Affecting Your State

Attachment B: The ICC and NFPA Reports

Attachment C: Processes to Evaluate which Codes to Adopt

Attachment D: Importance of Uniform Construction Codes

 

ISSUES CURRENTLY BEFORE THE GOVERNORS AND STATE LEGISLATURES

A Brief overview of Political and Technical Issues Impacting Your State’s and Locality’s Decisions Regarding Which Model Construction Codes and Standards to Adopt and Enforce

A Report Prepared by the National Conference of States on Building Codes and Standards Under its Executive Branch Agreement with the National Governors Association

February 24, 2001

 

About This Report:

For the past twenty years, under the terms of an Executive Branch Agreement, the National Conference of States on Building Codes and Standards, Inc. (NCSBCS), has been privileged to provide technical support to the National Governors Association (NGA) on a wide range of issues related to building codes and public safety. That support has included several white papers on the need for statewide building codes and standards to facilitate economic growth in the states.

NCSBCS has prepared these reports in response to NGA’s requests for assistance in supporting the implementation of NGA policies. Currently, 10 NGA policies cover issues that are addressed by the building codes and standards, adopted and enforced by the states and over 40,000 localities throughout this nation. Among such current NGA policies are the NGA principles of state-federal relationship, affordable housing, disaster mitigation, energy conservation, and water resource management.

This report was prepared by NCSBCS in response to a request from NGA staff for assistance in understanding recent changes in model construction codes. The executive summary describes that situation and highlights information detailed in this report. This information will assist states dealing with challenging political and technical issues presented by the changes in these important life safety and economic development documents.

NCSBCS Officers:

Mike Unthank (NM), President

Tom Joachim (MN), First Vice President

Cynthia Wilk (NJ), Treasurer

Richard Gray (ND), Secretary

James Hanna (MD), Past President

 

Executive Summary - Codes Issues Currently Before the Governors

Last year, significant events occurred regarding the development of the private sector generated model construction codes and standards, which states and their localities adopt and enforce. Those events have resulted in states now being aggressively lobbied by segments of their building and fire services and trade unions to make a decision as to which new set of building, fire, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, residential, life safety, and other construction-related codes and standards will be adopted.

This lobbying effort has become divisive and may have a significant technical and political impact on the states. At issue are the codes and standards that directly affect the future public safety and affordability of every public building owned by your state, and every school, commercial structure, factory, or residence built or rehabilitated within your borders. These decisions have significant potential impact on insurance premiums in your state and your state’s ability to mitigate future man-made and natural disasters. Also at issue are the future cooperative working relationships between your building, fire, labor, and construction communities.

While no two states have the same rules, regulations, processes, or procedures governing the design and construction of buildings; states and their localities share a common reliance on model building and fire code organizations, which heretofore worked cooperatively to generate the technical provisions of the construction codes they adopt. Such codes today provide protection that covers 90% of the citizens of this nation.

The purpose of this report is to provide the nation’s governors with background information regarding: the code adoption decisions facing your state (Attachment A); the parties involved in that process (Attachment B); and several suggested approaches that your colleagues in other states are using to successfully navigate their way through the difficult technical and political issues surrounding the choice of which sets of construction codes to adopt and enforce (Attachment C).

For those states currently without a statewide code, this report includes a summary of the public safety and international economic competitiveness benefits to states that chose to adopt such a program (Attachment D).

This report will help your state decide which of several possible actions to take regarding the current code dilemma before you, and will assist you in doing so with limited friction between the building, fire service, and construction communities.

Founded by the nation’s governors in 1967 to provide the states a national forum through which they can collectively participate in building code and public safety issues at the national level, NCSBCS is pleased to provide this report to you and your colleagues. Additional information on NCSBCS and codes is available on the NCSBCS website, or by contacting the NCSBCS Executive Director, Robert Wible, at (703)481-2035 or rwible@ncsbcs.org.

About NCSBCS