GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2001
S	1
SENATE BILL 633*
     

 
Short Title:	Building Code Pilot Program.	()	
Sponsors:	Senator Clodfelter.	
Referred to:	Insurance and Consumer Protection.	
March 22, 2001

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to establish a building code pilOT PROGRAM for rehabilitating existing buildings.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  There is established a pilot program to utilize building code standards that are based on the Maryland Building Rehabilitation Code, the New Jersey Building Rehabilitation Code, or a combination of the two codes ("pilot building code") for the purpose of promoting affordable housing.  The pilot shall be administered by the Department of Insurance.  The county, in consultation with the Department, shall develop and implement local building code standards to be effective for a period of four years, from January 1, 2002, to January 1, 2006, at which time the pilot program shall expire.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, during the four‑year period of the pilot program, the pilot building code shall be enforced as if it were statutorily mandated and approved by the State Building Code Council. The county and its officers, directors, and employees enforcing that pilot building code shall not be liable to any person on the basis that the pilot building code used and enforced is not consistent with the statewide building code in effect from January 1, 2002, to January 1, 2006. In addition, buildings or projects built in compliance with the pilot building code shall not be required to be retrofitted to come into compliance with the applicable statewide building code once the pilot program expires. 
SECTION 2.  The Department of Insurance shall submit an interim report on the effectiveness of the pilot program to the General Assembly on or before December 1, 2004, and shall submit a final report to the General Assembly on or before April 1, 2006.  The final report shall include recommendations as to whether the pilot program should be extended or made permanent and any legislative recommendations, including whether the building code standards authorized by this act should be incorporated in the General Statutes as part of the statewide building code.
SECTION 3.  This act shall not be construed to obligate the General Assembly to appropriate funds to implement the provisions of this act.  The Department shall implement this act with funds available to the Department.
SECTION 4. This act is effective when it becomes law and only applies to counties with populations of 650,000 or more according to the most recent decennial federal census.