Information Technology firms identify projects to enhance public safety & economic productivity.

NCSBCS

NEWS RELEASE

National Conference of States on Building Codes and Standards
505 Huntmar Park Drive, Suite 210, Herndon, VA, 20170
www.ncsbcs.org

Contact: Carolyn Fitch at NCSBCS at (703) 437-0100 ext 238

GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, CONSTRUCTION & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FIRMS IDENTIFY PROJECTS TO ENHANCE PUBLIC SAFETY, ECONOMIC PRODUCTIVITY – CALL FOR SINGLE COORDINATED FAMILY OF BUILDING CODES FOR NATION

October 24, 2003 - Portland, Oregon - Leaders from the nation’s construction industry, information technology community and state and local building code administrators met in Portland, Oregon, October 19-22 and discussed actions that the public and private sector must take together to enhance public safety and the economic competitiveness in the nation. Among those actions was a call for the nation’s two major building and fire codes and standards organizations, the International Codes Council (ICC) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), to develop a single coordinated family of construction codes and standards for state and local governments to adopt and enforce. The October 19-22 program was the Joint Annual Conference of the National Conference of States on Building Codes and Standards (NCSBCS) and the Association of Major City and County Building Officials (AMCBO). The program also included, on Monday, October 20, The Third National Forum on Building Smarter in the Digital Age.

On Monday, October 20, speakers at the National Forum included representatives from Intel, Marriott, and Boeing Corporations. Together with Forum speakers from the software community and state and local government, private and public sector officials cited the need to reduce construction costs and potential threats to life safety caused by the conflict, confusion and overlap arising from multiple and non-coordinated construction codes being competitively promoted in the nation.

The need for a single family of coordinated construction codes and standards was echoed by chief building regulatory officials of several states that spoke on Tuesday, October 21, at a panel session on “Developing A Compatible Family of Construction Codes.” Attendees at luncheons on Monday and Tuesday at the Portland meeting shared the same view with their respective keynote speakers, President of the International Code Council, Anne von Weller and NFPA CEO and President, James Shannon. (NCSBCS released to the National Governors Association a report that urges the ICC and NFPA to come together to develop that compatible family of coordinated construction codes and standards. A copy of that report will be on the NCSBCS website in mid-November.)

Among other coordinated actions urged by attendees at the October 19-22 meeting was support for the implementation of the building regulatory streamlining work being done by the National Alliance on Building Regulatory Reform in the Digital Age. During the Monday Forum on Building Smarter in the Digital Age, Alliance streamlining support materials were reviewed and discussed. Those materials include: a business case for regulatory streamlining; model procurement guidelines for governments to acquire information technology for use in their building regulatory processes; a draft interoperability statement being developed by the Alliance for use in future procurements; and sample streamlining processes being used in states and localities.

Among the processes featured at the program was Oregon’s “One-Stop Business Process” which will establish a uniform on-line permitting process first in the tri-county area around Portland and later statewide. During the Joint NCSBCS / AMCBO Annual Meeting, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski and Oregon Delegate Mark Long, of the Department of Consumer and Business Services, were honored as winners of NCSBCS highest award, the Gene Rowland Award for 2003, in recognition of the above streamlining initiative.

Other recipients of NCSBCS awards during the joint annual meeting included:

NCSBCS President’s Award winners: New York City Buildings Commissioner – Patricia Lancaster and Deputy Buildings Commission for Administration and Technology, Mark Topping for their work on codes initiatives in the wake of 9/11 and for their hosting the Alliance’s September 24, 2003 Summit on “Streamlining the Nation’s Building Regulatory Process Through Interoperability.”

The NCSBCS Charles Mahaffey Award went to Dr. Jack Snell, Director of National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Building and Fire Research Laboratory for his and NIST’s leadership in helping to establish and fund the National Alliance on Building Regulatory Reform in the Digital Age.

In addition to the above streamlining activities, NCSBCS governor appointed delegate members adopted a resolution thanking the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy for supporting the Alliance and calling upon the White House and Congress to fund grants to states and localities to facilitate regulatory streamlining. A second resolution called upon the White House to undertake an initiative to streamline and reduce areas of regulatory overlap and duplication amongst Federal agencies that impact the building construction and regulatory processes in the states and localities.

Other presentations during the Portland meeting included:

Highlights from the New York City Summit on Streamlining the Nation’s Building Regulatory Process Through Interoperability
Reengineering and Streamlining State Building Regulatory Systems
Funding Effective Codes Enforcement in a Difficult Economy
Rehabilitation Codes As a Tool for Urban Revitalization
Building and Fire Code Official Cooperation - Models That Work
Update on the ISO Rating System for State and Local Building Departments
Protecting the Public and U.S. Infrastructure – Homeland Security Actions by State and Local Governments
The Building Regulatory System in the Year 2020
A behind the scenes look at and walking tour of urban revitalization project in the Brewery Block area of North West, Portland.
The meeting of the NCSBCS Factory Built Structures Committee which discussed potential coordinated actions by state governments to strengthen the state regulatory programs governing industrialized/modular buildings, the work of the Industrialized Buildings Commission and the states role in the Federal Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Program.

The October 19-22 meeting also included: exhibits of hardware and software currently available to state and local governments to streamline their building regulatory and codes administration processes, a work session of state and local governments on interoperability, a look at an advance copy of the updated NCSBCS “Introduction to Building Codes and Guide to Effective and Efficient Codes Administration,” an update on NCSBCS membership services, NCSBCS Board elections, AMCBO business meeting and a roundtable discussion by NCSBCS and AMCBO members identifying areas of future activity for both organizations.

Among those areas was a request from representatives from the nation’s software industry for the Conference to establish a special industry subcommittee to provide input to state and local governments on information technology that can be used in the building regulatory process and serve as a contact point for ongoing work on interoperability. In response to that request in their closing meeting, the NCSBCS Board of Directors established an Information Technology Advisory Subcommittee to the NCSBCS Regulatory Affairs Committee. Information on the structure and how to become a member of that subcommittee will be posted to the NCSBCS website in November.

The NCSBCS Board of Directors and Officers for 2003-2004 include: President, Tom Joachim (MN); Vice President, Cynthia Wilk (NJ); Treasurer, Richard Conrad (CA); Secretary, Dennis Langford (KY); Past President, Robert M. Unthank; Jerry Jones (LA); Tim Nogler (WA), Ila Jones (FL), and private sector member, Thomas Weekes (UL).

Copies of the power point presentations given at the October 19-22 meeting in Portland, minutes from meetings, further information on the new Information Technology Advisory Committee, an update report on the outcome of the “Third National Forum on Building Smarter in the Digital Age,” and order form for the new “Introduction to Building Codes and Guide to Effective and Efficient Codes Administration” are being posted to the NCSBCS website.

For more information on NCSBCS, the joint Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon, and on the National Alliance For Building Regulatory Reform in the Digital Age please visit the NCSBCS website at: www.ncsbcs.org.

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.