The Washington State Building Code Council (Council) has reversed itself in response to a lawsuit filed by BIAW last month in Thurston Superior Court challenging the Council’s position on local code amendments.

The Council voted unanimously to resend a notice to all local jurisdictions informing them that amendments previously adopted to the Uniform Building Code Council (UBC) must be re-submitted to the Council for approval to the newly adopted International Building Code (I-Codes). The new I-Codes were adopted by the state legislature in 2003 and went into effect July 1, replacing the outdated Uniform Building Code (UBC) that has been in place for the past 30 years.

The Council’s decision was a reversal of its earlier decision – made without taking a vote as required by law – to send a notice to all city and county governments informing them that existing amendments to the previous UBC did not need to be re-approved by the Council when the newly enacted I-Codes went into effect. The Council has the final authority to update statewide building codes, but local governments responsible for enforcing the codes may adopt amendments to them if approved by the Council.

BIAW objected to the Council’s decision and eventually filed a lawsuit challenging the decision contending the Council failed to take the proper procedural steps required by law.

The lawsuit further argued against the Council’s opinion that existing amendments do not need to be re-approved. All existing local building code amendments were approved and based upon the old UBC. The law now references the I-Codes that went into effect on July 1 of this year. In essence, all local building code amendments should be considered new amendments because the statute has been changed to reflect a new statewide building code. Therefore, BIAW’s lawsuit argued all existing amendments should be either re-approved or denied by the Council.

“This is clearly a victory for the homebuilding industry,” said BIAW Legal Counsel Andy Cook. “BIAW held their feet to the fire and when push came to shove, the Council realized that it had made a mistake and went back to right their wrong.”

The new notice approved by the Council on August 13 states:

“On July 1, 2004 the SBCC sent out the attached notice stating that previously approved amendments to the Uniform Codes ‘may’ remain in effect, and asking that local amendments requiring approval be submitted to the SBCC. The purpose of this notification is to clarify that statement.”

The new notice approved by the Council goes on to say that if local jurisdictions do not resubmit previously adopted amendments to the UBC to the Council by October 1, 2004, they will no longer be approved under the I-Codes.

The notice sent by the Council also reminds local jurisdictions that all future amendments must be submitted to the Council for approval under the I-Codes.

“The purpose of the new I-Codes is to provide consistency and reduce building costs,” said Cook. “Many of the existing amendments that were previously adopted to the UBC are no longer in line with the new I-Codes and are outdated,” he added.

The Council will now go back and look at existing local jurisdiction amendments to determine if they should be approved under the I-Codes.

“We are pleased to see that the Council did the right thing, but it’s a shame we had to file a lawsuit to get them to do that,” said Cook. “We will continue to closely monitor the Council to make sure that it properly votes to approve or deny those existing amendments to the new I-Codes.”.