We need your help to contact your member of congress. Legislation is pending that puts Florida in the bullseye.
Language is being added to HR 3702, which will require adoption of the “the latest published editions of relevant national consensus-based codes” as a prerequisite to receiving Disaster CDBG funding.
Stated in another way, it requires Florida to adopt the latest edition of the International Code Council (ICC) Residential Code or forgo CDBG funding. CDBG funding provides a great deal of financial assistance following a natural disaster such as Hurricane Michael.
This is an impossible standard to meet. Not a single state blindly adopts the ICC in totality.
The ICC is a “model code” that most states either amend to conform to local needs prior to adoption, or pick and choose the relevant parts to add to their existing base code. Florida, however, recently transitioned to the latter approach and this is paying dividends by allowing the process to focus on meaningful storm resiliency while not adopting costly provisions unrelated to Florida.
It is important to note that it is not uncommon for a code adoption process to take three years or more. No one is ever on the “latest edition” of a national consensus based code.
We need help in educating Florida’s congressional delegation about this bad provision in 3702. Click here to heed our call to action.