History

NCSBCS had its formal beginning in Wisconsin in 1967. It was formed in response to recommendations contained in the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations Report, Building Codes: A Program for Intergovernmental Reform. From that report, a group of concerned governors, working with the National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology), established NCSBCS as a not-for-profit organization to represent, on a national level, the states’ building codes and public safety concerns.

Shortly after NCSBCS was founded, the delegate members expressed strong concerns about the barriers created by lack of uniformity and interstate reciprocity. They targeted the development of uniform state regulation for all types of buildings—mobile, modular, and site-built—as one of the major objectives of the new organization. From 1970 - 1972, with financial assistance from the Department of Commerce, NCSBCS delegate members participated in a "Special Working Group on Legislation and Regulations." By 1973, that group, in cooperation with the model building code organizations, the National Association of Building Manufacturers, the manufactured (mobile) home industry, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), developed a series of model laws and rules and regulations which were later adopted by the Council of State Governments as model state legislation.

Since 1976, when NCSBCS received its first contracts from the Energy Research and Development Administration (now the Department of Energy) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, NCSBCS has had an executive director and paid staff to carry out the day-to-day operations of the organization and support the work of its standing committees. Today, NCSBCS is working through its committees, programs, and staff to provide a wide range of technical and information services to the state building regulatory agencies; to administer various contracts for private industry and agencies of federal, state, and local government; to serve as HUD’s monitoring agent for manufactured housing; to publish reference directories and information books; and to implement a number of membership programs.

Recent major NCSBCS initiatives have included programs to streamline the nation’s building regulatory process and increase U.S. international economic competitiveness. In the summer of 1996, NCSBCS announced it was undertaking a major project to reduce costs and improve public safety and economic development in the United States by helping each appropriate level of government adopt streamlined administrative processes to eliminate existing barriers to safe, decent, affordable, and environmentally safe buildings. Fifty national organizations and government agencies have joined NCSBCS in participating in this project. To help states increase their international economic competitiveness, NCSBCS has joined 62 national partners in the National Partners in Homeownership Initiative and is assisting the U.S. construction industry in gaining greater acceptance of their products and services overseas.

In keeping with the NCSBCS Vision and Mission, the Conference promotes and encourages the acceptance of new technologies and products in building construction. Providing education to those involved in the areas of building design and construction, a uniform national education and certification system for building regulatory personnel.