Notice of Proposed Rule
DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY
AFFAIRS
Division of Housing and
Community Development
RULE NO: RULE TITLE
9B-70.002: Commission
Approval and Accreditation of Advanced Building Code Training Courses
PURPOSE AND EFFECT: To review
the provisions of these rules in light of the past two years experience and
implement changes beneficial to the program.
SUMMARY: The rule amendment further specifies and defines
grounds for revoking the status of accreditor of
Building Code Education Courses and modifies the deadline for updates to
accredited courses to coincide with the effective date of code changes that
created the need for the update.
SUMMARY OF ESTIMATED
REGULATORY COSTS: No Statement of Estimated Regulatory Cost was prepared.
Any person who wishes to
provide information regarding a statement of estimated regulatory costs, or
provide a proposal for a lower cost regulatory alternative must do so in
writing within 21 days of this notice.
SPECIFIC AUTHORITY:
553.841(2), 553.841 FS.
LAW IMPLEMENTED: 553.841(2),
553.841 FS.
A HEARING WILL BE HELD AT THE
DATE, TIME AND PLACE SHOWN BELOW (IF NOT REQUESTED, THIS HEARING WILL NOT BE
HELD):
DATE AND TIME: March 19,
2007, 8:30 a.m. (or as soon thereafter as the matter is brought before the
Commission in accordance with its agenda)
PLACE: Embassy Suites Hotel,
Pursuant to the provisions of
the Americans with Disabilities Act, any person requiring special
accommodations to participate in this workshop/meeting is asked to advise the
agency at least 7 days before the workshop/meeting by contacting: Ila Jones, Community Program Administrator, Department of
Community Affairs,
THE PERSON TO BE CONTACTED
REGARDING THE PROPOSED RULES IS: Ila
Jones, Community Program Administrator, Department of Community Affairs,
THE FULL TEXT OF THE PROPOSED
RULES IS:
9B-70.002 Commission Approval and
Accreditation of Advanced Building Code Training Courses.
(1) Approval of Course Accreditors. The Commission shall approve persons to serve
as accreditors of advanced training courses. Persons
desiring to be accreditors shall apply using Form
FBCED 2003-001 adopted herein by reference and available from the Building Code
Information System at www.floridabuilding.org. Applications shall be
accompanied by an application fee of $100.00. Applications shall be approved by
the Commission if the applicant has demonstrated five years of Florida Building
Code expertise in the field for which approval is sought, and possesses an
active license issued pursuant to Section 471.015, 481.213, 481.311; 489, Part
I or II, F.S.; or a standard certificate issued pursuant to Section 468.609,
F.S. When an accreditor application is submitted to
accredit only accessibility courses by an individual who can demonstrate
proficiency acceptable to the Commission as a subject matter expert in the
field of accessibility the Commission shall approve that applicant to accredit
accessibility courses. Accreditors approved by the
Commission under prior versions of this rule are authorized to continue
accreditation of building code courses. Approval as an accreditor
shall be revoked upon a finding by the Florida Building Commission that the accreditor has committed misfeasance or malfeasance related
to the process of accreditation; accredited courses in violation of Florida
Building Commission rule(s) related to courses reflecting the building code(s),
or Florida Statutes or rules; or failed to maintain the license that provided
the basis for approval as an accreditor.
(2) Revocation of approval
as an accreditor.
(a) Any accreditor shall have his/her approval status revoked for
any of the following reasons:
1. Knowingly providing a fraudulent application
to the Commission, when applying for accreditor
status.
2. Suspension or revocation of a trade license
submitted to the Commission as part of the initially approved accreditor application, which was not reported to the
Commission at the time of suspension or revocation
3. Failure to effectively and/ or accurately
accredit courses, specifically relating to the correctness of the course
building code content references.
4. Failure to remove him/herself
from any “conflict of interest” situations, such as accrediting own courses.
5. Accrediting courses in which the accreditor has a financial interest.
6. Failure of the accreditor
to cooperate with a Commission ordered investigation.
(b)The Commission may
revoke the approval status of any accreditor based on
any provision of subsection 9B-70.002, F.A.C., until such time as the accreditor demonstrates that the accreditor’s
status is currently in compliance with this rule.
(c)The Commission shall
initiate an investigation based on a written complaint containing substantial
material evidence of a violation of this rule by any substantially affected
party.
(d)The Commission shall
clearly post the status of an investigation on its website, the
(3) Accreditor
Review of Courses. Accreditors shall review courses
submitted by providers approved by the Department of Business and Professional
Regulation to determine if the course accurately presents the technical and
administrative responsibilities reflected in the current edition of the Florida
Building Code, or future editions of the Code if the accreditor
is reviewing a course revised to comply with an updated edition of the Code in
accordance with subparagraph (4)(f) of this Rule; or Florida Statutes or
rules related to the Florida Building Code. Accreditors
shall not mutually accredit each others’ courses. The accreditor
shall determine if the course meets the following minimum criteria:
(a) Course Title/Number. The word “advanced” and, if appropriate,
“internet” shall be in the title;
(b) Hours
of Credit;
(c) Name, address, telephone
number and e-mail address of the provider;
(d) Course Description
completely describing what the particular course is designed to address;
(e) Course/Learning
Objectives;
(f) Course Time allotments
for course content;
(g) Course
Outline/Instructional Methods – detailed description of course content in
sequence of how taught and methods used to teach that content. The following
instructional methods are authorized, but are not limited to: exercises,
quizzes, discussion groups, reading assignments, projects, simulations, and
presentations;
(h) Code edition to which the
course relates;
(i)
Course references cited in the outline;
(j) Method of Course
Evaluations;
(k) A minimum of 50% of the
actual training materials content shall be related to the Florida Building Code
or Florida Statutes or rules related to the Florida Building Code;
(l) Course materials shall
accurately reflect the Florida Building Code and other topics under the
jurisdiction of the Florida Building Commission; and
(m) Course materials provided
to the student shall be provided to the Accreditor.
(4)(3) Course
Accreditation by the
(a) Training providers
approved by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation who desire
Commission approval and accreditation for advanced Building Code courses shall
register with the Building Code Information System Form FBCED 2003-002,
Provider Registration, adopted herein by reference and available from the
Building Code Information System at www.floridabuilding.org, and pay a
registration fee of $25.00.
(b) Registered training
providers shall submit materials and information pertaining to courses for
which Commission accreditation and approval is sought utilizing Form FBCED
2003-003, Course Accreditation Application, adopted herein by reference and
available from the Building Code Information System at www.floridabuilding.org.
(c) The provider shall select
an approved accreditor and shall provide payment for
services directly to the accreditor. The accreditor selected shall meet the criteria for
independence identified in paragraph (d) and shall be listed with expertise in
the field for which approval is sought.
(d) Upon submittal by a
training provider, the selected accreditor shall
receive an e-mail notification from the Building Code Information System at
www.floridabuilding.org and shall review the materials provided by the provider
in accordance with the criteria identified herein. The accreditor
shall complete the application by providing comments containing the results of
the accreditor’s review and updating the
Accreditation Approval Status on the Building Code Information System. The accreditor shall also provide a certification of
independence that attests the person or entity does not have, nor does it
intend to acquire or will acquire, a financial interest in the training
provider seeking accreditation.
(e) The Building Code
Information System www.floridabuilding.org shall assign an accreditation number
to the application upon submittal. The application shall be accredited
completely and placed in the “Pending FBC Action” file on the Building Code
Information System at www.floridabuilding.org no later than 23 calendar days
prior to the next scheduled meeting of the Florida Building Commission. The
Commission shall finalize the accreditation process utilizing the Building Code
Information System at www.floridabuilding.org and notify the provider and accreditor within 3 business days of the Florida Building
Commission’s action on the applications.
(f) On or before the
effective date of changes to the Florida Building Code, pProviders
shall either have 120 calendar days from the date of the code
adoption to update existing accredited courses affected by the code changes and
submit for accreditation or designate on the Building Code Information
System at www.floridabuilding.org that the course is not affected by the
code changes or update existing accredited courses affected by the code
changes and submit for accreditation. If
the course is not affected by the code changes, the course’s status shall
remain active and the course status should remain active. Existing
courses may continue to be delivered during the 120 calendar day period.
The code version that initiated the update and reaccreditation process must be
noted on the application. Accreditation of revisions to accredited courses and
courses in alternative formats to approved accredited courses shall be
accomplished in the same manner as described in paragraphs (a) through (f)
hereof, except that only the revision submitted shall be subject to review and
these courses shall be approved by the administrator of the education program
subject to ratification by the Florida Building Commission.
(g) The Commission shall
audit 2% of all courses submitted for accreditation and of all courses
submitted for reaccreditation. Any courses submitted for accreditation or
re-accreditation determined to not accurately reflect the Florida Building Code
Edition; or Florida Statutes or rules related to the Florida Building Code
shall be denied. All approved Advanced Building Code Courses must reflect the
Florida Building Code Edition; or Florida Statutes or rules related to the
Florida Building Code. Any courses accredited and found by audit or any means
to inaccurately reflect the Florida Building Code Edition; or Florida Statutes
or rules related to the Florida Building Code or accredited by an accreditor outside the approved areas of expertise shall
have the accreditation revoked, the status of the course communicated to the
respective licensing board, and the provider required to file a new application
for accreditation, if the course would comply.
Specific
Authority 553.841(2) FS. Law
Implemented 553.841 FS. History–New 6-8-05, Amended 4-30-07.
NAME OF PERSON ORIGINATING
PROPOSED RULE: Ila Jones,
Community Program Administrator, Department of Community Affairs,
NAME OF SUPERVISOR OR PERSON
WHO APPROVED THE PROPOSED RULE: Janice Browning, Director, Division of Housing
and Community Development
DATE PROPOSED RULE APPROVED
BY AGENCY HEAD: December 6, 2006
DATE NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULE
DEVELOPMENT PUBLISHED IN FAW: September 22, 2006