Summary of April 19 Member Meeting

Alliance for Regulatory Coordination

Summary of Member Meeting

Meeting Date: April 19, 2013

Location: Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin

The meeting was convened at 9:05 a.m. by Bob DuPont, of Regulatory Guidance and Design, LLC. Attendees introduced themselves and identified the organization they were representing.

DuPont provided a recap of the ARC introductory meetings with legislative leaders which occurred in February. He said all nine legislative offices indicated interest in the Alliance and support for streamlining and eliminating service overlap between state and municipal programs. Six legislators offered to consider ARC suggestions for legislation, and asked us to stay in touch with them.

Electrical licensing and inspection policy was discussed next. DuPont described the meeting held with Representative Larson on April 11, 2013. Rep. Larson has agreed to take the lead in developing remedial legislation regarding this subject. Those meeting with Rep. Larson were: Rachel Jaeb, National Electrical Contractors Association - WI; Joe Hertel, International Association of Electrical Inspectors - WI; Beata Kalies, Cooperative Network (Electric Co-ops); Dave Boetcher, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; and DuPont, ARC. John Mielke, Associated Builders and Contractors of Wisconsin, helped prepare for the meeting but was unable to attend.

Several ideas for remedial legislation pertaining to: registration terminology, license exemptions, and license reciprocity with other states, were presented to Rep. Larson by the group.

Jeff Beiriger recommended that any new license exemption be placed in a separate statute section instead of modifying any existing exemptions, especially those that apply to plumbers. DuPont clarified that the idea presented to Rep. Larson was for a separate statute section to be created. He said the group told Rep. Larson that each of the existing licensing exemptions reflect consensus reached with specific interested parties, and therefore suggested that those existing exemptions be left untouched.

Senate Bill 72 and Assembly Bill 77, concerning updating of the state One- and Two-Family Dwelling Code, were discussed next. Both Bills would require the Dwelling Code Council to review that code and to submit recommendations to the Department of Safety and Professional Services once every six years. Senate Amendment 2, to SB 72 would require the DSPS to review the code once every three years.

Jeff Beiriger said the PHCC of Wisconsin is concerned about waiting too long to update codes. They are not supportive of adopting a national model plumbing code for Wisconsin, but they do support ongoing efforts to compare Wisconsin’s plumbing code to national model codes, and to keep up with nationally recognized methods, standards and techniques.

Steve Froemming said the IAEI-WI has concerns over a six year review cycle being applied to the State Electrical Code. He said the National Electrical Code, developed by the National Fire Protection Association is updated every three years, like many national model codes and standards.

Bob Kleinheinz said that ratings by the Insurance Services Office, ISO, will go down if codes are not updated in a timelier manner than once every six years. The ISO sponsors the Building Code Effectiveness Grading Schedule (BCEGS) to assist insurance companies in identifying risk. The BCEGS rating is assigned to municipalities on a periodic basis. He said that FEMA utilizes the ISO BCEGS rating given to municipalities with areas in floodplains to help determine the cost of flood insurance. Flood insurance rates go up when the ISO BCEGS rating goes down. Kleinheinz said the ISO uses the International Residential Code as its benchmark for one- and two-family dwellings, and since Wisconsin does not adopt the IRC, the ISO BCEGS rating for Wisconsin municipalities is already negatively affected.

After significant discussion, it was decided that the Alliance would not take a position on SB 72 and AB 77. John Mielke noted that the Alliance is already on record as supporting the use of contemporary codes in Wisconsin, but member organizations have not yet come to consensus on what that means in terms of code review cycles.

The next topic of discussion was Assembly Bill 133 and Senate Bill 148, which relate to the applicability of the one-family and two-family dwelling code to certain structures used for camping and the exclusion of certain recreational vehicles and portable toilet systems from the definition of plumbing.

Jeff Beiriger said that the PHCC of Wisconsin is working closely with legislators to make sure that these Bills do not negatively affect public safety as it relates to plumbing systems. He suggested that members of the Alliance become familiar with the Bills and consider how they may affect the various areas of building construction each group is involved in. Matt Mertens said that the question of how to address temporary structures and structures used on a seasonal basis has been the subject of discussion relative to national model code provisions on this subject. There was general consensus that the Alliance would not take a position on AB 133 and SB 148.

Regarding the Assembly’s project called “Right the Rules”, DuPont reported on the meeting of the Assembly Committee on Housing and Real Estate held on April 11th. During that meeting the committee reviewed four chapters of administrative rules administered by the DSPS Industry Services Division. The committee took no action regarding the rules. Rules reviewed were:

SPS 307, Explosives and fireworks

SPS 309, Anchoring and securing movable soccer goals

SPS 372, Cleaning methods for historic buildings

SPS 390, Design and construction of public swimming pools and water attractions.

DuPont reported that Representative Murtha, the committee chair, announced that he planned on scheduling more chapters for review as the committee’s meeting schedule will allow. Rep. Murtha said he started the review with chapters for which no concerns have been raised by the public or by DSPS.

There was general consensus that Alliance member organizations should participate in the Right the Rules project as they see fit. DuPont said he would continue to monitor legislative committee efforts on this project and will report his findings to ARC members.

DuPont asked if ARC members supported asking Governor Walker to issue a proclamation about May being Building Safety Month, which is sponsored by the International Code Council. He said that the ICC has suggested proclamation text and that the Wisconsin Code Officials Alliance had already asked the Governor to issue such a proclamation. Following brief discussion there was agreement to have DuPont send such a request to the Governor’s Office on behalf of the Alliance for Regulatory Coordination.

DuPont also suggested that ARC issue a press release about May being Building Safety Week. There was consensus to issue such a press release also.

Misha Lee said he had heard that at least one member of the Legislative Joint Finance Committee is interested in the possibility of merging the Department of Safety and Professional Services with the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. John Mielke said he had heard that also, and when he asked an official at DSPS about the topic they said the idea was not going anywhere.

DuPont said the idea likely came up as the result of the Governor’s proposal to move petroleum inspection duties from DSPS to DATCP. Such a proposal may have raised awareness that both DSPS and DATCP are essentially in the consumer protection business.

The next meeting of Alliance Members was scheduled for July 19, 2013, from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:45 a.m.

This summary was prepared by Bob DuPont, Regulatory Guidance and Design, LLC.

It was issued on May 17, 2013.