FLORIDA BUILDING COMMISSION

TELECONFERENCE MEETING

April 22, 2013

 

COMMISSIONERS PRESENT:

 

Dick Browdy, Chair                                                   Charles L. Frank

Hamid Bahadori                                                         Jeffery Gross

Jon Hamrick                                                                Nanette (Nan) Dean

Bradley Schiffer                                                         Herminio Gonzalez

Ken Gregory                                                               Rafael Palacios

Brian Swope

COMMISSIONERS NOT PRESENT:

 

Bob Boyer                                                                   Oscar Calleja

Kevin Flanagan                                                           Dale Greiner

Beth Meyer                                                                 John Scherer

Drew Smith                                                                 James Schock

Jeff Stone                                                                    Tim Tolbert

 

OTHERS PRESENT:

.

Jim Richmond                                                             Mo Madani

Chris Burgwald                                                           Robert Lorenzo

 

WELCOME:

 

Jim Richmond opened the meeting at 10:05 pm., EST, Monday, April 22, 2013.  Roll was called and a quorum was determined.

 

Chairman Browdy advised Jim for provide any updates and address any questions or comments from the members.

 

Mr. Richmond advised that there may be more information available on the next call scheduled for Monday, April, 29, 2013 as it leads into the last week of the session.

 

Mr. Richmond stated the biggest news is the shift in action in the Senate.  Jim advised the primary Senate Bill containing information pertaining to the Building Commission has been Senate Bill 1252 by Senator Simpson, that bill was amended in its last committee stop to include some additional elements and then was re-referred to another committee last week.  He advised that last week was the last legislative week on the calendar for regularly scheduled committee meetings; this in essence killed the bill.  As a result the contents of SB 1252 which now includes additional elements which he stated he would

provide have been amended onto Bill number 1080 by Senator Evers.

 

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April 22, 2013

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Jim stated the significant additions to that legislation has been that in the product approval area an additional category has been included in products that require product approval and that is impact protective systems, which is consistent with the standards and should not be an issue.  Additionally the bill has been amended to include provisions from HB 703 and SB 944, regarding the concrete masonry council.  Jim advised that this is where the bill is right now.  He also stated that it remains referred to the Appropriations Committee and that it may get heard later this week.  Jim stated that the Appropriations Committee continues to meet as they deal with the budget and he advised that he shows a meeting scheduled on Wednesday.  For HB 1245, Jim said that the bill remains the same, and is ready for floor vote.  But he stated both sides need to pass through them and that we will have to wait for the results.

 

Jim stated the other news from the Legislature is the low voltage wiring bill, HB 973 and SB 1442.  He said that HB 973 is on its third committee substitute, should they wish to view, look at CS/CS/CS and is scheduled for floor vote 4/23/13.  SB 1442 is on the second committee substitute and is special order calendar for 4/24.  Jim said that it looks like it will pass out of the House and send it to the Senate which is subject to change.  He said special order calendars second reading is typically the last opportunity to amend a bill, it requires only a majority vote on second reading, he stated that if they wait for a third reading it will requires a super majority vote to amend.  Special order calendar means it is probably going to get read.  He said there are numerous bills on second reading that they never get to, but special order they typically get moved.  Those bills have been modified to except fire alarms as well allows for grandfathering provision on local fees if local jurisdiction has this set up, they can maintain up to a $175.00 fee whereas the remainder are capped at $55.00.  He stated the effective date was amended to reflect 10/1/2013.

 

Mr. Richmond stated this is the primary updates, he did state that on the Senate side the definition for local technical amendment was discussed and was added into the text of the bill, he advised he was not positive and had not checked today.

 

Mr. Richmond stated all bills especially Building Code bills are facing a tough challenge in that it is not on the floor yet.  He said they have been running conference committee on budget for the last three days, it ran over the weekend and will be tied up for the better part of this week so time is getting short on the issues and bear watching to see if things get moving.  He said the re-referral of 1252 is clear signal that something is concerning the Senate President’s Office, as they control the referral of bills to committee and it is out of the ordinary for a bill to get re-referred to an additional committee this late in the session and that it was referred back to a committee that had already heard it earlier in the process due to some of the new language added.

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April 22, 2013

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Mr. Richmond entertained questions.

 

Commissioner Gross asked if there had been a discussion on the accessibility issues.

Mr. Richmond advised he had not heard any he stated he was contacted early on with AIA Florida and he thought they were pursing the issue this year.  He said it would be a fairly challenging lift at this point to add to legislation this late, he did not feel it would be introduced this year.

 

Chair Browdy stated he received some feedback from Representative Davis’ office when we passed the recommendations of the workgroup with regard to uniform implementation of the building code of course the accessibility piece was in there, and the reaction from Representative Davis’ Office after passing it around the advocacy groups that there was not enough time to deal with all of the implications involved notwithstanding the fact they understood how critical it was.

 

Chair Browdy said that it was surprising that we got the local technical amendment at least up for discussion.

 

Commissioner Gross stated that in 553 it says that everyone has to follow the building code and it exempts zoning.  Items could be zoning but not applicable to building.

 

Chair Browdy stated when the definition was reviewed, they felt however it was done the definition; a local technical amendment would be defined not how they got it in but the result of the insertion that it would affective amend the Florida Building Code and that is how they got that in.

 

Commissioner Gross stated that if it were a provision that would modify the Florida Building Code no matter where it was then possibly it was a local amendment.

 

Chair Browdy stated then it would be a local technical amendment no matter how it presented itself.

 

Jim gave a brief recap of the call today.  He provided information on how to locate the changes online.

 

 

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April 22, 2013

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Commissioner Palacios asked if there was anything on 2011/2012 - 553.844 on the wind codes.

Mr. Richmond stated he had not seen anything on this.

Commissioner Palacios stated that it was done on 2012 but they refer to 2007 code and not the 2010 code.

Mr. Richmond stated there are two declaratory statements filed with clarification that the 2010 code would apply. 

 

Mo Madani confirmed that there were two statements filed.

 

Mr. Richmond advised there is another call scheduled for Monday, April 29th at 10:00 am.

 

Chairman Browdy stated he needed to work with Mr. Richmond to set a time to discuss fees and accessibility fees, he requested that Jim call him so that a meeting time can be set to discuss with the appropriate TAC.

 

Adjournment: 

Chairman Browdy announced meeting stands adjourned at 10:24 am