Keynote presentations by representatives from the Council on Competitiveness, The Infrastructure Security Partnership, and the National Association of State Chief Information Officers and hands on demonstrations of available information technology software for use in the regulation of construction will highlight the three-day meeting. Kentucky Governor and current Chairman of the National Governors Association, Paul Patton, and Louisville Mayor David Armstrong are scheduled to give welcoming and introductory remarks to the conference attendees.

The combined NCSBCS/AMCBO annual meeting will open on Sunday, October 20, with two training programs for state and local code enforcement personnel. On Sunday morning the NCSBCS International Academy for Professional Code Administration (IAPCA) will offer a course on "Dealing with News Media During a Disaster," and Sunday afternoon a course on "Assessing Your Community’s Disaster Risk and Preparedness."

At 5:00 p.m. Sunday evening, attendees will receive an update on NCSBCS and AMCBO membership services and national level activities of both organizations. From 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. attendees will participate in the 3^rd annual NCSBCS New Products Reception which will provide the opportunity to view new products and services being offered by NCSBCS members to the construction and building regulatory communities. A listing of the products and services to be demonstrated will be posted on the NCSBCS website.

Monday, October 21, 2002, the Louisville conference will open with the 2^nd annual National Forum on Building Smarter in the Digital Age. This day-long program will focus on the progress that has been made over the past year by the National Alliance on Building Regulatory Reform in the Digital Age in stimulating the development and use of information technology by state and local jurisdictions to improve both public safety and economic competitiveness in their communities. Remarks by Governor Paul Patton; Deborah Wince-Smith, president of the Council on Competitiveness; and a senior official from the Business Roundtable, will highlight the importance of streamlined effective and efficient codes administration to the economic productivity of our nation and the life safety of our citizens.

The Forum will review progress made by a number of communities to streamline their building regulatory processes using information technology, review examples of existing hardware and software that are transforming the construction and building regulatory industries, and highlight products and services being made available to state and local jurisdictions by the National Alliance on Building Regulatory Reform in the Digital Age. The Alliance update will include a look at a proposed system of federal grants to state and local governments to help streamline their building regulatory processes through the use of information technology.

Communities with information technology programs to be shared at the Louisville meeting include Los Angeles and Mountain View, California; Commonwealth of Kentucky; Louisville, Kentucky; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Arlington County, Virginia. Software systems to be reviewed include online permit processing, plans reviews, voice-activated scheduling systems, and first responder databases. Handheld devices (PDA) being used in field inspection work also will be featured during Monday’s program.

Finally on October 21, the combined annual meeting will include a special session on the problem area of mold in buildings, and what some state and local jurisdictions are doing to work with their construction communities to address that problem.

On Tuesday, October 22, the joint NCSBCS/AMCBO annual meeting will open the day with a review of federal, state, and local efforts to work with their construction communities to address the safety and security of citizens in the wake of the events of September 11, 2001. The "Lessons from 9-11" session will include presentations on bioterrorism and buildings, mutual aid agreements between jurisdictions, regulatory streamlining, and the work of The Infrastructure Security Partnership (TISP) (a consortium comprised of over 100 national organizations and governmental agencies working to support homeland security).

Two other programs on Tuesday will focus on homeland security and economic competitiveness issues. Mid-morning attendees will have the opportunity to learn about efforts at the national level to develop a secure nationwide, state-based database for first responders comprised of as-built designs, evacuation plans, and key contact information for critical structures. NCSBCS and its partners in the National Alliance will provide an update on their work with the White House Office of Homeland Security and other federal agencies to begin to build such a system. (The need for such a system was described in the Homeland Security Strategy issued by the White House Office of Homeland Security in July 2002.)

The second mid-morning program, "Streamlining through Coordinated Construction Codes," will feature a dialogue between state and local jurisdictions, the construction community, and representatives from the International Code Council and the National Fire Protection Association relative to the contents of the two model building codes currently available for state and local adoption. The session will also look at actions being taken by state and local jurisdictions to develop their own package of compatible construction codes and standards to enhance public safety and economic competitiveness of their communities.

The combined NCSBCS/AMCBO annual meeting will conclude Tuesday afternoon with separate business meetings for both organizations and elections of Board members and officers for the coming year.