High water flood marks from Hurricane Katrina remain on a building at Southern University at New Orleans. (Marvin Nauman/FEMA)

Contractors get okay to conduct inspections in Louisiana. Legislation would allow state-licensed contractors to review plans and conduct inspections on new and rebuilt homes in hurricane-stricken parts of Louisiana. The bill prohibits contractors from reviewing or inspecting their own projects. Officials say the bill is necessary to help parishes find qualified inspectors. It expires Jan. 1, 2007.

A home in Waveland, Mississippi, that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. (Leif Skoogfors/FEMA)

Mississippi House and Senate pass different code bills. The House legislation requires four counties, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson and Pearl, to adopt up-to-date building codes. It allows county leaders to review the program after 90 days and end participation. The Senate-approved version of a building code bill mandates that eight coastal counties, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Stone, George, Pearl River, Forrest and Lamar, adopt building codes.

ICC reaches out to returning soldiers. More than 800 soldiers relocating to Fort Leonard Wood,

Rita Swearingen

Missouri, from a tour of duty in Germany will receive ICC brochures in the welcome home package. The packages are being put together by the nearby city of Rolla. The city's building official, an ICC member, reached out to GR's Rita Swearingen to include the "Building Codes: How Do They Help You?" brochure as a selling point to soldiers to live in Rolla. The Communications Department worked with Rita and Marketing to provide the brochure, along with the Foundation's Project H.E.R.O. brochure. Fort Leonard Wood is the headquarters for the Total Force's Maneuver Support Center Home that includes the U.S. Chemical, Engineer and Military Police Schools, Center of Excellence for Homeland Defense and Rapid Assessment and Initial Detection.

PRODUCTS

2003 I-Codes in Spanish available soon. ICC is nearing completion of publishing nine of the 14 International Codes in Spanish, including the IPC, IMC, IFGC, IRC, IBC, IFC, IECC, IEBC, and IPMC. The demand for these codes in Spanish speaking communities in the U.S. and around the world is driving considerable interest in this project. According to a 2005 report released by the Pew Hispanic Center, foreign-born Hispanics make up about 20 percent of the total work force in the U.S. construction industry. Given the rapid growth of Spanish speaking communities around the country, these codes will ensure access to construction methods and systems and their interpretations as well as their correct application, all to the benefit of the built environment in the U.S. Additionally, these codes can be adapted to local conditions in Central America, South America, and Mexico. These new tools will help improve the safety and well being of the general public using buildings constructed under ICC regulations. Updates on the availability of the Spanish I-Codes will be provided in future editions of eUpdate.

Staff finalizes various 2006 I-Code references. Products expected to be available in the next few months are: 2006 I-Codes on CD in PDF or I-Quest format, and on the Web site, www.ecodes.biz; Turbo Tabs; AWPA Standards as Referenced in the IBC and IRC; Significant Changes to the IBC; Significant Changes to the IRC; Fire Inspector's Guide based on the 2006 IFC; Code Changes Resource Collection (previously titled Update Resource Handbook series); and Quick Reference Guide to Fire Safety and Occupancy-Based Requirements of the 2006 IBC. Expected Regional Codes: Ohio CD, 2006 Ohio Residential Code, updated Florida CD, and City of Phoenix Amendments.

The following are upcoming events at which ICC staff will attend and/or host an exhibition booth:
March 9-10, International Association of Fire Chiefs Wildland Fire Conference, Phoenix, AZ
March 15, Midwest Builders Show, Rosemont, IL
March 20-23, Finger Lakes Building Officials Educational Conference, Henrietta, NY
March 22-23, West Virginia Equipment, Technology and Design Expo, Charleston, WV
March 23-25, Utah Builders Conference, St. George, UT
March 24-25, JLC Live New England, Providence, RI
March 29-31, CSI Show and Convention, Las Vegas, NV

Feds seek help from ICC
The Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons, has asked ICC to help make the International Building Code its code of choice. The Bureau operates 106 facilities and prisons in the U.S. averaging 300,000 square feet. The Department spends more than $25 million in maintenance, has $500 million in its new construction budget and wants to employ a single code that will govern all facets of construction.
GR staff will meet with the Bureau in April for a comprehensive presentation on ICC's complete building system. Other federal agencies using I-Codes include Architect of the Capitol, Department of Defense, General Services Administration, National Park Service, Department of State, U.S. Forest Service and the Veterans Administration.

ICC co-sponsors restoration conference
ICC is an official supporter and co-sponsor of the International City/County Management Association's (ICMA) Restoration 2006: Community and Economic Recovery after a Disaster conference. The event focuses on long-term and sustainable community and economic recovery in the aftermath of a natural or man-made disaster.
Organized by ICMA, the National League of Cities, and the National Association of Counties in collaboration with numerous partners, supporters, and co-sponsors, the conference will help local government and other community leaders answer the question of what comes next after a disaster. ICC is looking at several ways to participate including workshops and seminars.
The conference will be the backdrop for ICC's national symposium on disasters similar to last year's Hurricane Symposium. Restoration 2006 will take place May 16-17 in New Orleans. For more information, click here to visit the ICMA Web site.

Governance Committee established
The ICC Web site now contains information about the Governance Review Ad Hoc Committee. Members and others interested in offering their input can do so by e-mailing governance@iccsafe.org.
The committee will present an interim report to the membership at the 2006 Codes Forum in Sacramento, California. An online forum will be available for members to participate and comment on the committee's report.
Details on the committee are available by clicking here.

Another federal agency opts for I-Codes. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) approved adoption of the IBC for construction. The IBC will cover construction of all new VA buildings, including hospitals, retirement homes and rehabilitation facilities, as well as renovations to existing facilities.

Code Technology Committee (CTC) making steady progress. Since its inception, the CTC has held five meetings with a sixth beginning today. At this meeting there will be three public hearings on interim reports for climbable guards, day care and the NIST World Trade Center recommendations. All three areas of study may lead to code change proposals in the upcoming cycle.

CTC continues to work closely with the Ad Hoc Committee on Terrorism Resistant Buildings (TRB). The two committees have held one joint meeting and will meet together again in this month. The CTC/TRB activities will likely result in code changes submitted by both committees (joint proposals as well as proposals submitted by the TRB) based on the findings of the NIST World Trade Center report. Both committees are working cooperatively with the NIBS/MMC Committee charged with translating the recommendations into the codes.

Board task group on hearings meets. The second conference call of the Task Force on Hearings was conducted on Feb. 10. The agenda included code hearing schedules, length of sessions, conflicts with the Annual Business Meeting, IAC modification recommendations, conduct of Chairman and Moderators, remote voting and electronic voting. The next meeting is scheduled for March 14. The Task Force is committed to its goal of completing its work in time to report back to the full Board at its May meeting.

Newly-appointed standing committee on referenced standards holds first meeting. The group will be involved in monitoring code change submittals addressing proposed new reference standards.

ICC standards update: The update to the ICC Bleacher Standard (ICC 300) is well underway with the committee meeting via conference calls to act on proposals received to update the standard from the 2002 edition. Similarly, the update to the accessibility standard, A117.1, continues with activities in task groups prior to going to the full committee. This will be an update from the 2003 edition to the 2008 edition. Both the Storm Shelter and Log Structure standards activities are in full gear. The Log Structure standard is currently in its second comment period while the Storm Shelter standard will be going out for its first public comment this summer. The Hurricane standard update is following the new direction established by the Board to update SSTD 10. The update process is still not without its issues relative to industry participation.

Other code-related ICC committees: Two newly-formed committees, Hazard Abatement in Existing Buildings and the Ad Hoc Committee on Administrative Provisions, are both holding numerous conference calls and web conferencing in anticipation of their submittals for the 2006/2007 cycle in March.

The next Disaster Response Committee meeting begins tomorrow in Orlando, Florida. Topics to be considered include the continued development of a new certification category for those responding to natural disasters, as well as development of training to support this certification category. A review of the scope and work plan for this committee will also be conducted.

ICC builds brand in the Structural Engineer marketplace. Marketing has established and is implementing a new program with Structural Engineer magazine that will focus on the structural engineering market segment. The first component of the program involves a new series of five articles about innovative building products and the role ICC-ES plays in ensuring these products comply with codes. The second component of the program includes a series of advertisements for the 2006 I-Codes.

2006 seminars are available. The 2006 Energy Conservation Code Update and the 2006 Existing Building Code Update are now available. Both seminars are overviews of the changes from 2003 to 2006 codes. The seminars also identify changes in organization and code requirements and the applicability of these requirements to design, plan review and inspection. Both are half-day seminars worth 0.3 CEUs.

February Evaluation Committee meeting in Los Angeles indicates increased attention on ICC-ES acceptance criteria. This no doubt can be attributed to the consolidation of the legacy parent organizations. The "spirited" public hearings as manufacturing competitors, consultants and the design community offered their support and concerns on acceptance criteria was a major indicator of the impact ICC-ES has on the industry. From these hearings the Evaluation Committee, composed of code officials, is able to determine what an enforcement body should be concerned with in reference to installation and use of building products. Staff involvement with this effort bears the responsibility to work with the design community to avoid conflicting information. Technical organizations representing the steel, concrete, masonry and wood industries are active participants in the hearings and the ICC-ES staff in turn actively participates in their technical committee efforts. This type of activity is vital to the effectiveness of ICC-ES in providing the most recent technical information available on products to those enforcing building regulations.