VP Legislative December 08 NewsletterPosted by Greg Farmer, Jan 12 2009, 08:56 AM

Seasons Greetings,

I wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Christmas shopping is all but over, and most of us brace for the excess food, travel, family and abundance of gifts. Please be sure to take a moment to remember the focus of the celebration of the next couple of weeks. Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus, and remember the wise don't show up for weeks after the birth. There are even some indications they may not even have seen the Christ Child until Mary and Joesph returned home. So when people comment about your Christmas decorations still being up after the new year, remind them the wise men are still in route.

Long Beach,

Great Show,Great Meetings, and Great Education. I have to hand it to Stan and the Staff, the Expo and the Convention went very well. The Education Committee also gave us a tremendous collection of seminars. For me personally, the event was blur. Frank Heine and I were in constant motion. But I can say with great enthusiasm, it was all worth it. In fact, now that I am on the board of directors I will miss the opportunity to

Quarterly updates,

I know this is my first news letter, however Stan and Julius have been on me all of the board members to provide more frequent and more relevant information to the membership. This is in response to issue brought up during the convention. I have to tell you there is so much I don't know about so many things Ray was doing, I am somewhat overwhelmed. But take heart, with large amounts of help from the Staff, I will catch up and get the ball rolling again.

Fire Protection in New Homes,

As some of you know the ICC passed a code change in the most recent hearings to include fire protection in new one and two family dwellings. The code change was appealed by the National Association Home Builders (NAHB) on the grounds that ICC did not follow a balanced representation of interests regarding the voters. Julius and Stan went tot he appeals hearing on December 11th, where the code change was up held. I am sure the NAHB will pursue further action to remove this requirement from the future International Residential Code.

For what it is worth, the Code officials I have talked to locally, regionally and nationally want fire protection for single and two family dwellings in the code. I also think this is a good code change. However I would like to hear what the insurance companies collective experience is with residential fire protection. I have always subscribed to the notion fire protection systems are more to minimize property loss, and life safety is an additional benefit.

UPC update,

ASPE filed a code change, Uniform Plumbing Code – Sections 203.0; Appendix L, 9.1; 1101.11.3.1; Chapter 14, Table 14-1; Appendix L 9.0 Air Admittance Valves, Items #3, #157, #195, #239 requesting the inclusion of Air Admittance Valves into the code. This code changed failed to get the 2/3's majority , so it was defeated.

ASPE filed a code change, Uniform Plumbing Code – Section 1101.11.3.1 and Chapter 14, Table 14-1, Item #157 requesting Siphonic Roof Drainage Systems be included in the plumbing code. However the Technical committee ballot failed so the measure was defeated before any further review.