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Pennsylvania House of Representatives
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=H&SPick=20170&cosponId=21713
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House of Representatives
Session of 2017 - 2018 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: January 4, 2017 10:57 AM
From: Representative David M. Maloney, Sr.
To: All House members
Subject: Co-sponsorship of Legislation to Require International Codes Council (ICC) Publish Pennsylvania Specific Code Manuals.
 
Please find attached legislation that is a reintroduction of House Bill 1543 from last session which amends the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act (Act 45 of 1999) to require the Department of Labor & Industry to: 1) contract with the International Codes Council (ICC) to create and publish a set of code books that specifically represent the requirements of Pennsylvania’s Uniform Construction Code (UCC); and 2) make the ICC Pennsylvania “specific” set of code books available online for the general public to view.
The concept of creating a Pennsylvania-specific set of code books is a concept that is supported by all interest groups associated with UCC. In fact, House Bill 1543 was reported unanimously out of the Labor & Industry Committee on May 2, 2016. It is important to note that the bill was not considered by the full House for reasons not associated with the content of the bill.
The problem that my legislation addresses is the growing disparity between the content of the latest ICC triennial code books and the requirements of the UCC. Pennsylvania’s UCC is currently based on the 2009 ICC triennial codes, with some revisions that were adopted from the 2015 ICC triennial codes. Code administrators/builders have been, and will continue to use the 2009 set of ICC code books, with some form of supplements to be added to include new requirements. In addition, the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act, in itself, has many exclusions/modifications that differ from the ICC code books. From a practical standpoint, persons wishing to interpret UCC standards do not have one consolidated set of manuals to find all requirements.
Other states, such as Virginia, have contracted with the ICC to produce state-specific code books that reflect the particular changes/nuances of that state’s use of the ICC codes. My legislation would permit the Department of Labor & Industry to work with the ICC to produce code books that directly reflect the complete requirements of the UCC. It is my understanding that the creation of four commonly used codes in print (rough estimate) would be about a $20,000 fee charged by the ICC.

In addition, my legislation would give the department the power to also contract with the ICC to put the PA-specific set of codes online so that they could be viewed (in “read-only” format) by the general public.

The concept embodied in my legislation is supported by all stakeholders involved in the enforcement of the PA Construction Code Act, including the Pennsylvania Builders Association.

View Attachment


Introduced as HB162