NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                               For more information contact:

Herndon, VA -  August 1, 2005                                                                          Carolyn Fitch (703) 437-0100 ext. 238

 Guide to Help State & Local Governments Reduce Regulatory Costs of Construction and Improve Effectiveness of Programs – Jurisdictions Sought for Field Test

Regulations governing the design and construction of buildings contribute up to 20% to the cost of construction. Increasingly the public and the nation’s construction industry are requiring their local or state government to adopt and enforce construction codes and standards that assures public safety and do it in as effective and efficient a manner as possible to help reduce the regulatory costs of construction.

The National Conference of States on Building Codes and Standards (NCSBCS) assisted by the members of the Affordable Housing Task Force of the Alliance for Building Regulatory Reform in the Digital Age earlier this summer began a project to produce a guide to assist state and local governments in reviewing their existing codes administration and enforcement programs and to consider the use of successful streamlining practices that have helped other communities reduce the regulatory costs of construction.

The How to Streamline Guide will provide state and local governments and the construction community with a publication for both elected officials and code administrators that will help communities:

  1. Assess their potential need for regulatory streamlining to improve codes administration and enforcement and reduce the regulatory cost of construction.
  2. Provide examples of benefits and actions taken to successfully streamline programs elsewhere in the country.
  3. Provide examples of information technology being used to help improve codes administration efficiency and effectiveness.
  4. Provide a list of resources that are available to help jurisdictions consider and successfully undertake a regulatory streamlining initiative.

The project, funded by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH) initiative, includes a two-month field test of this draft guide in several communities prior to its finalization and national distribution.

CLICK for the selection criteria for identifying which jurisdictions may apply.  Jurisdictions wishing to be considered as field test sites for the guide should contact Carolyn Fitch @cfitch@ncsbcs.org.

NCSBCS represents the building code and public safety interests of state and local governments and is being assisted by a number of communities that have already conducted successful streamlining initiatives and by the members of the Affordable Housing Task Force. Task Force members include representatives from the National Association of Home Builders, Fannie Mae, International Code Council, National Fire Protection Association, HUD, the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service, the Association of Major City and County Building Officials, National Association of Counties, U. S. Conference of Mayors, and the National Governors Association.

Among the communities providing input for use in the guide are Louisville, Kentucky; Chula Vista and Los Angeles, California; Richmond Heights, Ohio; Clay County, Florida; Fairfax County, Virginia; and the State of Oregon.

CLICK for information on the Alliance for Building Regulatory Reform in the Digital Age and the Affordable Housing Task Force.

NCSBCS was formed by the nation’s governors in 1967 to provide a national forum in which government officials and the private sector can work together to address common concerns in the building regulatory process.

NCSBCS provides technical support to the National Governors Association under an executive branch agreement and provides secretariat services to the Industrialized Buildings Commission - an interstate compact, the Association of Major City/County Building Officials, and Alliance for Building Regulatory Reform in the Digital Age.

The vision of the Alliance for Building Regulatory Reform in the Digital Age, a private-public partnership, is to use information technology to transform the nation’s building regulatory process to enable the construction industry to build "faster, better, safer and at less cost".