The law, effective July 1, is the work of the Governor's Building Code Study Commission, a group of more than 40 stakeholders that reviewed Florida's building code system for 18 months. The law included every significant change the commission recommended, and drew support from every major interest group involved in construction - a remarkable feat by Tallahassee standards, considering this was the first attempt at passing a law. Tom Lewis, vice president of Walt Disney Imagineering and chairman of the commission, calls it "nothing short of a miracle."
The law converts the Board of Building Codes and Standards to the Florida Building Commission, which will give the Legislature a new building code in 2000. The commission will create rules on the number and quality of building inspections local officials must conduct and the type of materials builders must use. It also will become the final authority on code disputes. All building professionals, from inspectors and contractors to design engineers, will have to take classes on the new code, which goes into effect in 2001.
"We think we get better compliance with predictability, making the system more simple, and accountability, giving it more of a stick," Lewis explains.
Among the law's other provisions:
In exchange for rules that won't vary city-by-city, builders, designers, architects, engineers and contractors face tougher standards and stiffer penalties if they hire unlicensed workers or do work that is not up to code. Local officials, for example, can quadruple their permit fees if they reject a design plan three times for not meeting code or if code violations mean they must reinspect a site more than twice.
Local governments will lose their codes but gain enforcement authority and revenue. Local inspectors, using a new, automated statewide information system, will be able to verify whether building contractors have the required training, hold the appropriate licenses or have a history of violations. The law does not license everyone at a job site but puts more responsibility on contractors to watch who they hire. Local officials may fine violators between $500 and $5,000 and can file complaints with the offenders' professional board to revoke or suspend licenses. Designers of single-family homes must complete a training course and carry an occupational license.
State agencies will no longer be able to bypass local building officials. They must pull local building permits and comply with the state code. Coastal construction standards, for example, now set by the Department of Environmental Protection, will be spelled out for each region in the statewide code. (The department remains in charge of dune protection and land use.)
Local governments may amend the code if they can show unique needs. The commission will decide whether to make the local variance a permanent part of the statewide code or automatically repeal it after three years.
What's in it for homeowners? Streamlined rules could reduce the cost of building a home, predicts Wellington Meffert, director of the Tallahassee-based Florida Home Builders Association. "It makes life simpler for the designers and builders. Architects and engineers will know what they're up against everywhere they go." Proponents also hope that better compliance will lead to better-built homes and buildings and, ultimately, lower property insurance in Florida. The insurance industry, which worked hard to help pass the law, has a seat on the new building commission. Says Sam Miller, a vice president with the Florida Insurance Council: "Somewhere down the road, we do feel this will be very important in reducing hurricane losses."
The biggest issue now appears to be how strenuously local governments will enforce the new code. Proponents say that clear, consistent standards, strong disciplinary authority and more money for enforcement will push local officials to get behind the system. Good standards aren't enough: Insurers attribute 20% to 40% of the $16.5 billion in insured losses from Hurricane Andrew to poor building code enforcement, even though Dade and Broward counties had some of the most stringent codes in Florida. "The lesson we learned was that a building code is useless if it's not enforced," notes Doug Buck, director of the Department of Community Affairs' Division of Housing and Community Development.
To keep the pressure on, the Department of Business and Professional Regulation will still be able to revoke licenses of local building administrators, inspectors and plan examiners if they fail to follow the law. "The bugaboo is always the locals," Buck says. "But if they want to do a good job, they now have a cleaner shot."
TORT REFORM
All or Nothing
Republican legislators could have avoided the governor's veto of their package of changes to the state's civil litigation, or tort, laws this year, by passing pieces of the bill separately. Gov. Lawton Chiles had sent signals he would have accepted portions of the package, including a controversial element that would have limited the liability of rental car companies when drivers in rental cars get into accidents with uninsured motorists. But Chiles said that the reforms, as packaged, amounted to "overreaching."
Legislative leaders, led by House Speaker designate Rep. John Thrasher, R-Orange Park, insisted on the whole package or nothing. Why? Well, it makes a better campaign issue. Expect the issue to become a key litmus test in this fall's legislative races and a convenient fundraising aide for pro-business candidates.
WORKER'S COMP
Crackdown
Legislative tinkering designed to stop construction companies from dodging workers' compensation laws [FT, April 1998] will impose additional scrutiny and costs on independent contractors. Lawmakers created a $50, two-year renewable exemption from workers' comp coverage for most independent contractors working in the construction industry. But the law also says independent contractors must show proof of insurance or an exemption before a building permit can be issued, and it gives state regulators an additional $1 million to hire 15 more compliance officers to crack down on violators, a move hailed by the insurance industry as long overdue.
AWARDS
Sterling Example
Florida Department of Revenue's management team won the Sterling Award for having one of the best-managed organizations in Florida. The honor, bestowed by the Florida Sterling Council, put the tax agency in the same league as AT&T Universal Card Services in Jacksonville and four other previous corporate winners. The Revenue Department has 5,400 employees and is headed by Executive Director Larry Fuchs. In 1994, it became the first agency in Florida state government to use performance-based budgeting and has since become a model for management accountability.