NCSBCS

NCSBCS

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information contact:
Carolyn Fitch, (703) 437-0100 ext. 238

To Enable the Nation to Build Faster, Better, Safer & At Less Cost, Building Officials & Construction & Information Technology Industries Meet October 19-22 in Portland, Oregon, to Strengthen Public Safety & Revitalize Local Communities

Herndon, VA – October 2, 2003. This October 19-22, building regulatory personnel, academicians, and representatives from the construction and information technology industries from across the nation will gather at the Portland Marriott Downtown to share best practices and discuss actions to enhance public safety and the economic revitalization of communities. The program is 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) and the Third National Forum on Building Smarter in the Digital Age.

The program features a look at the future of the construction and building regulatory community in the year 2020, a review of Oregon’s innovative streamlined one-stop business process, hands-on demonstrations of hardware and software being used by state and local building departments in their building regulatory process, and discussions of actions being taken at the national level to make those products interoperable. Other subjects being covered at the October 19-22 conference include:

The use of building rehabilitation codes to revitalize communities;

How the ISO Building Code Effectiveness Grading Schedule is addressing delays in state and local code adoptions;

Construction industry safety expertise that is being made available to state and local building departments and homeland security directors by The Infrastructure Security Partnership;

Models of effective cooperation between building and fire departments;

How state and local governments are assembling and adopting a compatible family of construction codes;

Pending federal preemption of state manufactured housing installation dispute resolution programs; and

A look at significant changes in the future of the regulatory system that oversees the design and construction of buildings in this nation.

Invited guest speakers and moderators include: Anne vonWeller, President of International Code Council; James Shannon, President and CEO of National Fire Protection Association; Dr. Paul Taylor, Chief Strategy Officer of the Center for Digital Government and former CIO of Washington State; Dr. Martin Fischer, Stanford University; and executives from Marriott Corporation, Intel, and Boeing.

Regulatory streamlining initiatives that make use of information technology will be featured at the conference’s special one-day session on October 20, "The Third National Forum on Building Smarter in the Digital Age." That program will share with attendees progress being made in Oregon on their streamlined business one-stop process project and focus on recent work products released by the National Alliance for Building Regulatory Reform in the Digital Age including:

model procurement guidelines for purchase of hardware and software used in the codes administration and enforcement processes;

model enabling legislation and streamlining processes for state or local building departments;

online guide to jurisdictions that can provide assistance to jurisdictions planning on using information technology;

model "interoperability statement" that jurisdictions can use in their procurements of the shelf software for online permitting systems; and

successful examples of how to work with your construction community and public to build support for undertaking regulatory streamlining and acquiring information technology.
the outcome of the September 24, 2003, Summit on Streamlining the Building Regulatory Process through Interoperability.

The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services, Building Codes Division, and the City of Portland’s Bureau of Development Services are co-hosting the Joint NCSBCS/AMCBO Annual Conference and Third National Forum.

The meeting is being held at the Portland Marriott Downtown, 1401 SW Naito Parkway, Portland, Oregon. NCSBCS has a hotel room block at the group rate of $121.00 or government employee rate of $91.00 plus tax. The hotel reservation number is (503) 226-7600. The cut-off date for the group rate is October 7, 2003. Registration can be completed online at www.ncsbcs.org. There is a reduced fee if you register prior to October 15.

A detailed narrative agenda for the October 19-22 program, registration forms, hotel accommodation and transportation information are found on the NCSBCS website -- www.ncsbcs.org or can be obtained by contacting Carolyn Fitch at NCSBCS by e-mail: cfitch@ncsbcs.org or phone: 703-481-2035.

The National Conference of States on Building Codes and Standards (NCSBCS) was founded by the nation’s governors in 1967 to promote the development of an efficient, cooperative system of building regulations to assure the health, safety, and welfare of the public within the built environment. Under cooperative agreements over the past two decades, NCSBCS has provided technical support to the National Governors Association and to the Council of State Governments. NCSBCS also provides secretariat services to the National Alliance for Building Regulatory Reform in the Digital Age, the Association of Major City and County Building Officials, and the Industrialized Buildings Commission–an interstate compact.

The Association of Major City and County Building Officials (AMCBO) provides a national forum for building officials of large cities and counties to discuss their mutual interests and seek solutions to common problems in the administration of major building departments.