Guest blogger: Why the next governor must update Pennsylvania’s building codes

We are thrilled to have Shari Shapiro guest blogging for us this week! Shari is a government relations professional with Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies. She represents a coalition of groups advocating for up-to-date building codes for Pennsylvania. She can be reached at sashapiro@cozen.com. 

When I tell you that I am going to spend the next five hundred words explaining why the Delaware Valley Green Building Council (DVGBC), PennFuture and the Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance all included reforming Pennsylvania’s building code process as a central issue in the gubernatorial race, cleaning the crumbs out of your keyboard will probably take on a sudden urgency. But for the benefit of Pennsylvania’s economy and environment, hear me out.

Issued last week, the National Climate Assessment described the dramatic effects of climate change in the United States. The increase in severity and frequency of storms and flooding reflected in the report comes as no surprise to Pennsylvanians. Not including the most recent terrible winter storms, there have been five federally declared national disasters in Pennsylvania during the last four years.

The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency reported that Pennsylvania spent approximately $82 million in taxpayer money in recovery costs, and the Federal government has spent many times that. Up-to-date building codes represent one of the most cost effective ways of reducing disaster recovery costs -- for every $1.00 spent in disaster mitigation techniques like constructing to the most up-to-date building codes, the country saves $4.00 in rebuilding costs. (FEMA)

The most up-to-date building codes are also more than 15 percent more energy efficient than Pennsylvania’s current codes. Updating Pennsylvania’s codes would save new homeowners between $200-$700 per year, and between $5,460 - $19,832 in net profits over the over the course of a thirty-year mortgage. (Department of Energy; Building Codes Assistance Project estimates). Of course, the increased energy efficiency also reduces greenhouse gas emissions. 

Finally, up-to-date codes include the most current building safety standards and allow for the use of new building technologies. 

But Pennsylvania will not realize these benefits for the foreseeable future. Governor Tom Corbett signed a law in 2011 (“Act 1”) that proved so restrictive and unworkable that it effectively guarantees that future editions of the codes will not be adopted unless the law is changed. In 2012, the 19 governor appointees charged with reviewing the 2012 code changes could not comply with the Act 1 requirements, and simply rejected the 2012 code updates in their entirety instead. The review committee will begin to be review the 2015 codes this summer and, without legislative change, there is no reason that the outcome will be any different. As a result, Pennsylvania’s codes will be almost a decade old when they next come up for review.

When communities fail to update their building codes, the burden falls on the citizens. Buildings are less safe and less energy efficient than they should be. Residents pay higher insurance premiums, and, when disaster strikes, taxpayers are left with the rebuilding check. While interest and campaign promises are encouraging, pressure from you is critical to keeping building codes in the campaign spotlight and ensuring the governor, when elected, follows through on UCC reform. For more background information on the Pennsylvania code situation and actions you can take, please go to www.builditsafe.org.    

This post was excerpted from a blog posted by the Delaware Valley Green Building Council.

Fox guarding henhouse: New email emerges -- Are builders calling shots on building codes, safety?

With little scrutiny, Pennsylvania has outsourced the vital role of updating building safety codes to the very people who stand to be regulated – the building industry.  Specifically, the Pennsylvania Builders Association (PBA) – a powerful, well-connected industry group representing residential builders throughout the state—has almost complete control over whether Pennsylvania’s building codes will be kept current. This cannot continue.  

The Review and Advisory Council (RAC) is a little-known panel of Governor-appointees that decides whether to update building codes. Changes to the building code update process, signed into law as Gov. Corbett's first piece of legislation after taking office, require a supermajority vote of the RAC to update codes -- allowing for six RAC members to stand in the way of updated building codes. Currently, PBA holds, or has influence over, at least six members of the RAC.

A former president of the PBA has always sat on the RAC, and was (until last month), the Chair.  

Even more shockingly, through a Right-To-Know Law request, PennFuture discovered that long-time Pennsylvania Builders Association attorney Loudon “Hap” Campbell provided “legislative drafting” advice to RAC Chairman Frank Thompson and a RAC subcommittee. The advice apparently pertained to the RAC’s official comments on pending code adoption legislation.  

Why is the chairman of the RAC receiving legal advice pertaining to the RAC’s official comments on legislation from an attorney and lobbyist who has represented the PBA in cases spanning twenty five years, who is listed on PBA’s website as “PBA’s legal counsel,” and is listed on FollowTheMoney.org as a PBA lobbyist as recently as 2012?  

Stephen Black, another former president of the PBA, has been appointed by Gov. Cobett to replace Mr. Thompson. What will stop this too-cozy practice of insider influence by the PBA?   

Last summer, several bills were introduced to fix the broken codes process and remedy the undue influence of the PBA over the RAC’s decisions. However, the PBA was successful in amending the legislation to retain the existing system that makes building code adoption impossible without the PBA’s blessing.

The RAC should be comprised of a broad range of stakeholders and building code experts. Builders should have a say in the process, but Pennsylvania cannot continue to abdicate its regulatory authority to an industry group to the detriment of the safety and welfare of Pennsylvania's citizens. Only bringing to light PBA's undue influence, and legislative change to make the code adoption process more effective, will ensure that Pennsylvanians have the benefit of a thoughtful and balanced review of building codes.  

Andrew Sharp is PennFuture's Director of Outreach and is based in our Philadelphia office.

Will Pa. Senate water down strong building codes bill?

We've told you before about the building codes mess in Pennsylvania. 

In short: Changes to the building code update process, made by the state legislature and Gov. Corbett in 2011 -- at the behest of the home building industry -- are preventing updates to building codes. 

This means that cost-effective industry best practices are being rejected at the expense of health, safety and energy efficiency.

Early next week, the Senate Labor and Industry Committee is expected to vote on a bill that attempts to fix this broken codes process. 

Sen. Charles McIlhinney's bill would streamline the process by restoring Pennsylvania to a system where updated codes are adopted unless a two-thirds majority of the Uniform Construction Code Review and Advisory Council (RAC) votes them out (referred to as the "opt-out" process). 

This would allow for hundreds of commonsense, often simply semantic, code changes to take effect, while allowing for substantive analysis on proposed changes that merit debate. 

It would go a long way toward addressing the dysfunction and delay in the current code process. 

BUT, amendments are very likely to be introduced that would gut the bill of its core function. 

Amendments that have been widely shared with stakeholders remove McIlhinney's key "opt-out" provision. 

If similar amendments are introduced early next week, the watered down bill would fail to address the fundamental flaw of the current code process and Act 1 -- the requirement that the RAC reach two-thirds consensus on hundreds of proposed code changes. 

The amended bill would amount to tinkering around the edges, while the safety and welfare of Pennsylvanians remains at risk because of out-of-date building codes. 

Take action!
Use PennFuture's action alert and tell the Senate to stand up for the safety of Pennsylvanians, not the interests of home builders -- and pass SB 1023 unamended. 


Andrew Sharp is PennFuture's director of outreach and is based in our Philadelphia office.

Pennsylvania shines as host of Greenbuild, in spite of Harrisburg obstruction on key green building policy

This week, Pennsylvania is at the center of the green building universe.

Our state's world-class innovation and creativity is on display as over 40,000 green building enthusiasts are in Philly for Greenbuild -- the largest conference dedicated to sustainable building in the world.

One of the key policy drivers of green buildings: Updated building codes. Buildings account for 72 percent of U.S. electricity use and 36 percent of natural gas use. Modern codes arm policy makers and the building industry with new levers to drive greener buildings and healthier communities.

So how does Greenbuild's host state stack up on this key green building policy? [Spoiler: not well.] Is Pennsylvania seizing the opportunity of high-performing, energy efficient, twenty-first century buildings through modern building codes? [Spoiler: no.]

Changes to the building code update process, made by the state legislature and Governor Corbett in 2011 -- at the behest of the home building industry -- are preventing updates to building codes. This means that cost-effective industry best practices are being rejected at the expense of health, safety and energy efficiency.

Hundreds of changes to the building codes recommended in 2012 were all rejected by the board of political appointees charged with updating the state code. These rejected changes include safety improvements in addition to updated energy codes.

Pennsylvania is now building to the 2009, not the 2012, codes. If this process doesn't change, it is unlikely any new code will be adopted in the future.

Even worse, home builders are recommending further changes that would make it even harder to update building codes and could even result in rolling back previous code adoption decisions, enabling codes to revert to much older standards.

With the spotlight of the green building universe on the Keystone state, it's past time for our leaders in Harrisburg to provide the state with the tools to drive innovation and save energy. In Philly parlance: Yo, Harrisburg! Get with the program and fix the building codes mess you created!

Visit BuiltItSafe to tell your legislator to support modern, 21st century building codes.