Code Council joins state legislatures to advance resilience

The International Code Council recently joined the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Public-Private Partnership on Disaster Mitigation and Recovery. The NCSL Foundation for State Legislatures is undertaking an exciting new effort which will provide legislators, legislative staff, and private sector partners a chance to identify policies and practices that support disaster mitigation and recovery, and pursue coordination between federal, state, and private sector spheres.

The Public Private Partnership on Disaster Mitigation and Recovery brings together state legislators, legislative staff and private sector representatives to explore the policies and programs that can best prepare our communities to tackle these challenges, and how the public and private sectors can work together in pursuing these advancements. The Code Council joins private partners the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, and the Pew Charitable Trusts, among others.

The partnership recently convened its second meeting of the steering committee and Foundation partners at NCSL’s Executive Committee Meeting on Jan. 17, 2020, in Austin, Texas. Topics discussed included mitigation and recovery in Texas, disaster spending across the public and private sector, the role of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact and interstate agreements, and mitigation measures relating to critical infrastructure resilience. Ryan Colker, vice president of Innovation for the International Code Council and executive director of the Alliance for National and Community Resilience, represented the Code Council and discussed key findings from the National Institute of Building Sciences Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves study which details the benefits of multiple mitigation measures including an $11 to $1 benefit for the adoption of up-to-date building codes. The session covered specific state policy examples relating to building codes and standards.

The partnership will develop a series of white papers outlining strategies that can be deployed to reduce the costs and impacts of hazard events.