PATH considers long-term changes in U.S. building codes. To help future manufacturers develop their technologies, PATH works with the staff at the National Conference of States on Building Codes and Standards (NCSBCS) in their Streamlining the Nation’s Building Regulatory Process work.
On behalf of America’s governors and their chief building regulatory officials, NCSBCS promotes the development of an efficient, cooperative system of building regulation to ensure the public’s safety in all buildings, residential and commercial. Since 1967, NCSBCS has provided to the public and private sectors a national forum for coordinating building code and public safety interests and for discussing issues and concerns about building construction codes and regulations.
The Streamlining project is a cooperative effort among 55 national organizations and Federal, State, regional, and local governments to improve economic development, public safety, and environmental quality. The project will bring better management practices to the regulation of the siting, design, and construction of all types of buildings throughout the United States.
Since early 2001, NCSBCS has coordinated the activities of the National Alliance for Building Regulatory Reform in the Digital Age. In October 2002, the Alliance’s Steering Committee adopted an implementation plan for the Alliance’s Action Agenda. That plan divided the Alliance’s work into three phases. At the end of March 2002, through the in-kind services and funding support of a number of members and affiliates, NCSBCS completed Phase I, the organizational phase. Each of the Alliance’s three working groups – Steering Committee, Technology Task Force and Planning and Coordinating Task Force – have held their first meetings, adopted mission statements, and initiated work on their action items.
In addition to holding these meetings during Phase I, the Alliance has:
established on the NCSBCS Web site a listing of software currently available for jurisdictions to use in their building regulatory and emergency response functions;
begun work on the conceptualization of a secure nationwide, state-maintained, database of building designs and evacuation plans for critical structures for use by first responders;
reviewed interoperable software being used in the U.S. and overseas to regulate the design and construction of buildings;
prepared for placement on the Alliance portion of the NCSBCS website a listing of models of streamlining processes being successfully used in states and localities to reduce the regulatory cost of construction.
The Alliance has also met with representatives from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the U.S. Office of Management and Budget to update them on the Alliance’s progress.
NCSBCS looks forward to continuing to fulfill the adopted Vision Statement – strengthening our public’s safety and our economy by helping our nation’s construction industry build “better, safer, faster and at less cost.”
Contact Information
NCSBCS
505 Huntmar Park Drive, Suite 210
Herndon, VA 20170
(703) 437-0100
PATH
Dana Bres
451 7th Street, SW, Room 8134
Washington, DC 20410-0001
(202) 708-4370
