News Updates - April 8, 2009

Now accepting amendment proposals for two specialty codes
Oregon Structural Specialty Code

The 2010 Oregon Structural Specialty Code (OSSC) will be based on the 2009 International Building Code (IBC). On April 6, 2009, the division began accepting code amendment proposals for the 2010 Oregon Structural Specialty Code. The current commercial structural code in Oregon is the 2007 OSSC, which is the 2006 IBC with Oregon amendments.

BCD is working with the Building Codes Structures Board to form the 9 to 11 member Structural Code Review Committee, which will be examining the code amendment proposals. If you are interested in being a committee member, please read the public notice for information on how to participate. This committee will be dealing with all aspects of the commercial structural code except the energy provisions, which the Commercial Energy Conservation Advisory Committee is working on. (See the article below.)

After reviewing the code amendment proposals, the committee will move on to the next steps in the code adoption process by presenting their findings to the Building Codes Structures Board. The division hopes to complete the committee process and forward their recommended code amendment proposals to the board for consideration this coming fall, with an anticipated code adoption date of April 1, 2010.

If you have questions or need further information, please contact Richard Rogers, Structural Program Chief, at 503-378-4472 or Richard.Rogers@state.or.us.

Oregon Mechanical Specialty Code

The 2010 Oregon Mechanical Specialty Code (OMSC) will be based on the 2009 International Mechanical Code (IMC) and the 2009 International Fuel-Gas Code (IFGC). BCD is also accepting code amendment proposals for the mechanical code. The current code is the 2007 OMSC, which is based on the 2006 IMC and 2006 IFGC with Oregon amendments.

The code proposal process used for the update of the OMSC is very similar to the OSSC. If you are interested in being a part of the 7-9 member Mechanical Code Review Committee, please read the public notice for information. This committee will be dealing with all aspects of the mechanical code except the energy provisions, which the Commercial Energy Conservation Advisory Committee is working on. (See the article below.)The Mechanical Board will review the amendments the committee presents and anticipates a code adoption date of April 1, 2010.

If you have questions or need further information, please contact Mike Ewert, Mechanical and Residential Code Program Specialist, at 503-373-7529 or Mike.D.Ewert@state.or.us.

Electrical and Elevator Board approved rules move forward

We announced last issue that the Electrical and Elevator Board was considering two proposed rules at its March 26, 2009 meeting. Both of the proposed rules met with board approval. The board voted to adopt OAR 918-305-0280, clarifying the requirements for critical operations power systems, which became effective April 1, 2009.

The board also approved proposed amendments to 918-282-0140, General Supervising Electricians, to go forward to a public hearing. The proposed rule does not change any of the existing responsibilities of general supervising electricians. Instead, it clarifies that general supervising electricians may face penalties if they do not meet their responsibilities under the rule. The rule also clarifies that a failure to prevent a violation is the same as allowing a violation to occur. The hearing on the proposed rule will take place on May 19, 2009 at 9:30 a.m. and is open to the public.

Oregon Commercial Energy Conservation
Advisory Committee (OCEC) meets

The Oregon Commercial Energy Conservation Advisory Committee met for the first time on March 31st. The committee will be assisting with the development of tighter energy efficiency requirements for the state's commercial building code. The committee is composed of 10 members from the energy efficiency, construction, trades, commercial property management, and government sectors. This first meeting focused on lighting issues.

The OCEC will meet eight times and plans to present the division with their recommendations by July. The goal of the committee is to help determine methods to increase energy efficiency in commercial buildings by at least 15 percent. During this process, they hope to minimize the administrative cost of compliance on Oregon's businesses and local governments by not generating additional testing or inspection requirements.

The next meeting of the OCEC is scheduled for April 14, 2009 at BCD's Salem office. For more information, contact Gabrielle Schiffer at 503-373-7418 or gabrielle.m.schiffer@state.or.us.

Enforcement

Summary of enforcement cases presented to the State Electrical and Elevator Board
Summary report: These cases were resolved by the division's enforcement section without going to a contested case hearing. No action was required by the State Electrical and Elevator Board.

Final orders after hearing: These cases went to a contested case hearing. Each penalty assessment was reviewed and approved by the State Electrical and Elevator Board.

ePermitting

More benefits of new ePermitting system
In the last few issues of the newsletter, we have talked about the differences between the current Quick Permits system and the upcoming ePermitting basic services program offered on the Accela platform. We have also been discussing the development and use of the new Local Building Department Directory (LBDD). But, did you know that the two systems are set up to work together?

The main benefit of the two systems being able to connect and interact is the ability for a participating city or county to input a single new address into the LBDD system and have it available in the ePermitting system, without calling us, which you have to do with Quick Permits.

Using the "Add Address" tab in the LBDD, you can enter a single address and then modify what services will be offered through the basic services program. You can also use the "Modify Programs per Address" tab to add or remove electronic permitting services from an address that has already been identified in the ePermitting system. It is that simple! All addresses added in this manner go into the ePermitting system in a nightly update.

Because this function is specifically designed to work with the new ePermitting Accela platform, it will not be available until ePermitting goes live. Just another thing to be excited about…

Letters of Interest
Those of you who have expressed interest in participating in the ePermitting full services program should have received an e-mail from us late last week asking for some additional information. This information will help us establish when cities and counties will be added to the full service system. Remember that responses are due back to us by April 17, 2009. Please contact Lori Graham, lori.l.graham@state.or.us, or Debbie Wells, debbie.l.wells@state.or.us, if you have any questions.