Senate Sends Regola’s UCC Bill to Governor

Finance Committee endorses Taxpayer Protection Act

The Senate today concurred on House amendments to Senate Bill 437, a bill to reform the state Uniform Construction Code, and sent it on to the Governor for his signature and enactment into law, according to Senator Bob Regola, the prime sponsor of the legislation.

Senate Bill 437 will amend the UCC by addressing a new mandate contained in the 2006 International Residential Code, which took affect on January 1, 2007.  Under the mandate, all new residential construction is now required to have “anchor bolts” when the foundation and retaining walls are built, which could increase home building costs by as much as $3,000, according to Senator Regola.

“I am pleased that the General Assembly has approved this bill, which will exempt Pennsylvania from an onerous and expensive building code requirement that was designed primarily for coastal areas and earthquake-prone regions,” Senator Regola said. “This is an excessive national standard that should have been instituted for certain geographic regions of the country only, not Pennsylvania,”

Steve Black, President of the Pennsylvania Builders Association, stated “On behalf of our 12,000 members, I would like to thank Senator Regola for taking the lead on this legislation which will ensure that homes are structurally sound yet without adding unnecessary costs.”

According to the Pennsylvania Builders Association, the states of Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee have exempted themselves from the mandate.

Engineers from the Concrete Foundation Association, the National Association of Home Builders, the Portland Cement Association, the National Concrete Masonry Association and the National Ready Mix Concrete Association are in agreement that these provisions are unnecessary and have jointly submitted a code change to remove these provisions from the next published edition of the IRC which will not be until 2009.

 ### 

Contact:  Nate Silcox (717) 787-6063