Mike Silvers, CPRC, Silvers Systems Inc. & FRSA Director of Technical Services
The following are excerpts from a recent article by: Bloomberg Politics (underline added for emphasis) "As Storms Get Stronger, Building Codes Are Getting Weaker" by Christopher Flavelle, March 19, 2018:
The showdown in the Florida statehouse last year had all the drama of a knock-down political brawl: Powerful industries clashing. Warnings of death and destruction. And a surprise last-minute vote, delivering a sweeping reform bill to the governor’s desk.
The battle wasn’t about gun control, immigration or healthcare, but about making it easier to ignore national guidelines on building codes in a state that gets hit by more hurricanes than any other.
Three months later, Hurricane Irma smashed into Florida. A report being released on Monday shows Florida isn’t alone in easing up on building regulations even as the effects of global warming escalate. The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) examined building policies in 18 Atlantic and Gulf Coast states and found that despite the increasing severity of natural disasters, many of those states have relaxed their approach to codes – or have yet to impose any whatsoever.
“There’s no longer the automatic assumption that codes are good,” Julie Rochman, the head of the institute, said in an interview. “We just have an incredible capacity for amnesia and denial in this country.”
That trend leaves residents more vulnerable to climate change; it also puts states at odds with the Trump administration, which is struggling to cope with record disaster costs – costs that tougher building codes are meant to reduce.
The shift toward less rigorous codes is driven by several factors, experts say: Rising anti-regulatory sentiment among state officials, and the desire to avoid anything that might hurt home sales and the tax revenue that goes with them.
“There is an increase in housing costs every time a new code or rule is put upon the builder,” said Gerald Howard, chief executive of the National Association of Home Builders, the industry’s trade group.
Florida is the clearest example of the trend. Until last year, the state’s building codes were viewed as among the best in the nation – largely a response to Hurricane Andrew, the 1992 storm that killed 26 people, destroyed 63,000 homes and bankrupted nine insurance companies.
Homes built after Andrew came through Irma far better than older buildings. But it also rankled the state’s home builders, who argued that many of the changes increased the cost of homes for no good reason, other than to bolster sales for whatever company makes the latest gadgets or technology required.
Rusty Payton, head lobbyist for the Florida Home Builders Association, said his members wanted the state to stop “just making changes because some product guy found a way to get them into the ICC.”
So, when Florida’s lawmakers met last year, Payton’s group pushed a measure that would turn the state’s policy on its head. Instead of adopting the code council’s updated recommendations every three years, the home builders association wanted Florida to incorporate only the changes that the members of the Florida Building Commission deemed to meet the “specific needs of the state.”
Payton said the new system would mean “fewer code changes overall, which hopefully will keep the cost of a home from increasing superfluously.”
Groups representing insurers, architects, engineers, firefighters, building inspectors and others fought back. They created a coalition, Floridians for Safe Communities; it was led by Craig Fugate, who was head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency under President Barack Obama and before that was Florida’s emergency-management director. “Strong, up-to-date building codes are often the difference between life and death,” the group warned.
None of it worked. The measure passed at the end of the session. Governor Rick Scott signed it into law last June.
The change “reduces burdensome regulations while maintaining Florida’s gold standard of safety and innovation through an efficient and effective building code process,” a spokeswoman for Scott, Kerri Wyland, said in a statement. She noted that, by itself, the law does not remove any requirements from Florida’s current building code.
Leslie Chapman-Henderson, president of the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, agrees with the home builders that the
new system will mean fewer code changes, and that’s what worries her. As engineers design better ways of protecting homes from ever-worsening storms, she warned, Florida’s rules won’t keep up.
Still other storm-prone states have yet to adopt mandatory building codes of any kind, including Texas, where Hurricane Harvey damaged or destroyed 200,000 homes last year.
Mississippi and Alabama also have no mandatory statewide codes. Georgia has adopted a six-year-old version of the codes, but lets local officials decide whether to enforce it.
States’ reluctance to adopt building codes has worried federal officials, who are stuck paying to rebuild homes that get wiped out by natural disasters.
“Our strongly held belief is that strong and enforced building codes are among the best primary mitigation efforts that can be undertaken,” Nick Shufro, FEMA’s assistant administrator for risk management, said in an interview.
Some recent media reports, including Bloomberg Politics’ article titled “As Storms Get Stronger, Building Codes Are Getting Weaker,” imply that in order to have strong building codes, Florida must use the International Building Code (IBC) as its base code. This is misleading. Since its adoption in 2002, many requirements of the Florida Building Code (FBC) have been, are now, and will continue to be stronger than
those in the International Building Code.
Silvers replied to Bloomberg Politics, "Your article includes a link to a report titled 'Rating the States' published by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety. I have
included a Table from that article below. You will note that Florida has the highest score of 18 states included in the report. You should also note that Florida’s score is higher in 2018 than in 2015. The omission of this information from
your article is at best uninformative, if not outright deceiving.
Referencing the report while excluding the pertinent information would lead one to believe that the report supports your conclusions. It clearly does not."
Silvers continued, "You go on to state 'Florida is the clearest example of the trend. Until last year, the state’s building codes were viewed as among the best in the nation.'
Florida’s codes were not weakened last year – this statement is incorrect and misleading. The FBC is still
considered the gold standard for not only the nation, but the world. What makes Florida the gold standard has always been Florida’s specific stronger standards, not
what was routinely suggested for blind adoption of the international code."
"The recently enacted legislation allows the Florida-specific code provisions to remain in place, rather than be repealed each revision. Previously, they have been reconsidered and adopted by the Florida Building Commission during each code cycle (every three years). This change reduces time spent removing inapplicable and irrelevant national and international provisions (such as snow and earthquake requirements) that do not belong in a Florida code. Florida instead will now be able to concentrate on review of all changes made to the IBC that have not previously been reviewed. These new provisions will be afforded the exact same consideration and scrutiny as has been the case since the creation of the FBC - the same process that serves the citizens of Florida so well. It will in no way make the FBC 'weaker'."
"Our goal is a clear, consistent, teachable and enforceable set of building codes for the safety and protection of
Florida and its citizens. The Florida Building Code administered by the Florida Building Commission gives us the best
opportunity to achieve that goal."
Mike Silvers, CPRC is FRSA's Director of Technical Services. Mike is an FRSA Past President, Life Member and Campanella Award Recipient, and a Florida Licensed Certified Roofing Contractor, who brings over 40 years of industry knowledge and experience to FRSA’s team. Mike is available to FRSA members who have code or technical questions and can be reached at 800-767-3772 ext. 169 or by email at silvers@floridaroof.com.
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