CODE
RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT EFFORT
In mid-1996, FEMA asked the BSSC to initiate an effort to generate a
code resource document based on the 1997 Provisions for use by the International
Code Council (ICC) in adopting seismic provisions for the first edition
of the International Building Code (IBC) to be published in 2000. The
Code Resource Development Committee (CRDC) appointed to conduct this
effort met several times over the next year to develop a code language/format
version of the 1997 Provisions, and the CRDC-developed draft requirements
were presented to the IBC subcommittee by Gerald Jones in March 1997.
Subsequently, the CRDC met to develop comments on the IBC working draft
to be submitted to the ICC in preparation for an August 1997 public
comment forum. These comments generally reflected actions taken by the
PUC in response to comments submitted with the first ballot on the changes
proposed for the 1997 Provisions as well as CRDC recommendations concerning
changes made by the IBC Structural Subcommittee in the original CRDC
submittal. CRDC representatives attended the August forum to support
the CRDC recommendations.
After issuance of the first draft of the IBC in November 1997, the CRDC
met to prepare "code change proposals" that reflected the
final version of the 1997 Provisions for submittal in January 1998.
The CRDC then met for the last time as a committee in March 1998 to
review the compilation of IBC code change proposals issued by the ICC
and to develop a strategy for supporting the code change proposals it
had developed at an IBC public hearing in April. In addition, the IBC
Structural Subcommittee asked for CRDC input concerning all the seismic-related
code change proposals and these comments were summarized and transmitted
to the IBC group for its consideration.
An eight-member Code Resource Support Committee (CRSC) then was established
to support the Provisions-based requirements through the remainder of
the adoption process and to provide for needed liaison with the 2000
Provisions development work. A CRSC Technical Group composed of representatives
of the 2000 PUC and the various materials interests also was established
to support the CRSC. The first task of the CRSC was to deal with one
major issue that arose at the April hearing at which several code change
proposals concerning the draft IBC (and 1997 Provisions based) response
modification factors and limits of applicability of certain structural
systems were discussed. At the suggestion of a CRDC representative at
the hearing, the proponents of those code changes agreed to withdraw
their proposals to permit discussion of their technical merit outside
the forum of the public hearing process. To this end, the CRSC invited
these code change proponents as well as representatives of the various
construction industry materials associations to an August 1998 meeting
at which the group formulated a consensus opinion on an appropriate
series of code change proposals that could be submitted to replace those
withdrawn in April. Additional topics also were discussed and a total
of 13 code-change proposals were drafted.
In September 1998, the 2000 PUC Executive Committee was briefed on these
code-change proposals, most of which were accepted by the PUC as items
to be considered during the 2000 update effort; however, five items
were deemed to be significant departures from the 1997 Provisions and
required a vote by the full PUC. This balloting concluded in early October
with all items achieving consensus approval. The CRSC then finalized
all 13 of its code change proposals and submitted them to the ICC in
late October 1998.
In January and February 1999, the CRSC met with its Technical Group
to consider the proposed changes to the International Building Code
seismic provisions that would be debated at March 1999 hearings. The
CRSC chair and several member participated in the hearings on behalf
of the CRSC.
An International Residential Code Task Group established within the
CRDC in late-1997 has provided the ICC committee developing the International
Residential Dwelling Code (IRC) with input concerning seismic requirements
reflecting the 1997 Provisions, and these requirements generally were
reflected in the draft IRC. The activities of this task group have parallel
those of the CRDC/CRSC with the IBC and representatives attended the
IRC July 1998 public hearing in Kansas City. At this hearing, agreement
was reached on the seismic map to be included in the IRC; this map subsequently
was prepared for the BSSC by USGS and submitted to the ICC for inclusion
in the final draft of the IRC. The task group met in February 1999 to
review proposed code changes and prepare for the March ICC hearings.
The CRSC chair and several CRSC members represented the group at the
joint annual conference of BOCA, ICBO, and SBCCI held in September 1999
in St. Louis. Overall, the CRSC was successful in that almost all challenges
to the seismic provisions were decided in favor of the CRSC position
and the seismic provisions in both the 2000 International Building Code
and the International Residential Code reflect the 1997 NEHRP Recommended
Provisions.
In preparation for the ICC hearings to be held in Birmingham, Alabama,
in April 2000, the CRSC and its Technical Group reviewed the code changes
and met via telephone conference calls in March 2000 to discuss the
proposals. The CRSC chair and several other CRSC members attended the
hearings. With respect to the International Building Code, the CRSC
had specific positions on 41 proposals. Of these proposals, 35 were
decided in the direction CRSC favored and two that the CRSC opposed
were withdrawn. During the hearings on the International Residential
Code, the CRSC had specific positions on 12 proposals. Eight of these
proposals were decided in favor of CRSC's position and one was withdrawn
at CRSC's request.
In late September 2000, NIBS entered into a contract with FEMA to fund
further code support work by the BSSC. Under this contract, the BSSC
is charged to: (a) update and expand the Code Resource Support Committee
(CRSC) to ensure that it continues to be staffed with appropriate experts
from the seismic design and code development communities; (b) convert
the changes in the 2000 edition of the NEHRP Recommended Provisions
into code language; (c) submit those Provisions changes as code changes
for the 2003 IBC and IRC code change cycle; (d) continue to monitor
the IBC and IRC code change process to ensure that code changes submitted
by other parties do not reduce the effectiveness of the IBC and IRC
seismic provisions to the end that the codes would no longer be substantially
equivalent to the NEHRP Recommended Provisions; (e) provide an equal
level support to the recently announced building code development process
being undertaken by National Fire Protection Association (NFPA); and
(f) encourage the use of adequate building codes at the local level
as part of FEMA's commitment to pre-disaster mitigation, especially
for communities participating in FEMA's Project Impact initiative, including
assisting local community code officials in adopting and enforcing a
suitable code and assisting in the interpretation of that code as it
is used by the local community.
For 2001, the CRSC was reconstituted to include additional members and
special task groups; one to focus on the IRC, one to focus on the NFPA
code, and one to focus on performance code issues. The expanded CRSC
and its Technical Advisory Group (TAG) has reviewed the proposals for
change to the IBC and IRC in preparation for the hearing to be held
in Portland, Oregon, in late March. During a February 23 conference
call, the CRSC formulated its position on the proposed changes to the
IRC. At a meeting on March 5, with its TAG, the CRSC decided upon its
positions on the proposed changes to the IBC. The CRSC chair and six
members then attended the Portland hearings.
The CRSC's NFPA Task Group members also have been attending meetings
of the NFPA Technical Correlating Committee (TCC) and Structures and
Construction Committee. In addition, the CRSC representative to the
TCC has been appointed by that committee as its representative to the
Performance Task Group to the Fundamentals Committee.
The 2001 CRSC next met in Denver in July 2001 to review draft code change
proposals based on the changes made for the 2000 Provisions. These proposals
then were revised in response to CRSC comments and, as directed by the
BSSC Board, sent to the BSSC member organizations for comment.
Several CRSC members presented an educational workshop on the enforcement
implications for code officials of adoption of the IBC/IRC at the BOCA
Annual Business Meeting in September 2001.
The CRSC met in October 2001 to review the comments received from BSSC
member organizations and to address other code-related matters including
the need for additional changes identified during work on ASCE 7 and
CRSC work on NFPA 5000. The CRSC-approved code changes then were developed
and submitted to the ICC.
The CRSC met briefly at the January 2002 BSSC Annual Meeting to discuss
masonry issues and is expected to meet in mid-March to review all seismic-related
code changes on the IBC and IRC and to plan for participation in the
ICC code hearings scheduled for April 2002.
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