BOMA Success at ICC Hearings

BOMA San Francisco Members:

BOMA successfully represented the interests of BOMA members during nine days of code hearings for the 2015 editions of the International Existing Building, Property Maintenance, Fire and Energy Conservation Codes. More than 1,200 code change proposals—many with significant impacts on the commercial real estate industry—were considered at the hearings, which were held in Dallas from April 21-30. BOMA’s team, working with other real estate and construction groups, once again preserved safe, achievable and cost-effective codes against the growing influence of powerful product manufacturers and special interest industry groups.

BOMA and its allies were successful in keeping unnecessary and extremely costly mandates on new and existing buildings out of the ICC codes, including:

• Annual maintenance and verification of initial design energy efficiency levels for all existing buildings 
• Annual indoor environmental safety inspections 
• Mold remediation during renovation projects 
• Mold inspection prior to sale of property 
• Sprinkler systems in work areas during renovation or other construction 
• Radon abatement system installation triggered by renovation permits 
• Renewal of building certificates of occupancy every 5 years 
• AED placement in all building lobbies 
• Whole building electrical disconnect switch for emergency responder use 
• Restrictions on hand sanitizer station placement and storage of refills in medical office buildings 
• Installation of carbon monoxide alarms in all spaces in medical office buildings 
• Energy code compliance statement by design professionals on construction drawings 
• Inspection of existing building energy code compliance triggered by any permit application 
• Increased efficiency levels for wall, floor, roof and window areas 
• Limits on credits for more efficient windows and building envelope insulation 
• Whole building air barrier testing 
• Added insulation levels on all hot water piping and limits on length of piping from hot water equipment 
• Auto dimming controls on garage lighting 
• Solar-ready provisions, including dedicated roof space, for all buildings 
• Auto shut-off controls on 50 percent of electrical receptacles 
• Retro-commissioning for energy and mechanical systems in existing buildings 
• Commissioning of hot water systems 

BOMA also secured approval of previously negotiated settlements to keep prohibitively costly retrofit of sprinkler systems, firefighter air breathing replenishment systems and building energy and mechanical systems commissioning out of the body of the ICC Fire, Building, Existing Building, and Energy Codes. These provisions will be printed in appendix chapters that are not automatically included when state and municipal governments adopt ICC codes. This ensures BOMA will have maximum influence on these critical issues as the 2015 ICC codes are considered in state and local code adoption processes.

The next challenge for BOMA is to ensure the successes secured in the Dallas hearings are upheld at the ICC Public Comment Hearings. Final action ballots will be cast by ICC voting members at these hearings, which will be held in Atlantic City, N.J. in early October. 

Learn more at www.boma.org.