Florida
Building Commission
June
Education POC Meeting Minutes
Telephone Conference Call Number 1-888-808-6959,
Access Code: 1967168
In Person Attendance: Room 250L, 2555 Shumard Oak Boulevard, Tallahassee,
Florida
June 1, 2011
POC Members Present: Dick Browdy (Chair), Jon Hamrick, Jeff Stone, Scott
Mollan, Ken Gregory, Herminio Gonzalez
POC Member(s) Absent: Drew Smith
Meeting Attendees Identified:
Ila Jones Michael Clark
Jim Richmond Med Kopczynski
Cam Fentriss Alex Kobryn
Meeting was called to order at 10:00 a.m. ET, June 1,
2011
1. Review
and approval of the June 2011 Agenda
Motion: To approve as submitted
Motion: Jon Hamrick
Second: Ken Gregory
Approved
Unanimously
2. Review
and approval of March 2011 Minutes
Motion: To approve as amended
Motion: Jon Hamrick
Second: Ken Gregory
Approved
Unanimously
Discussion:
Alex Kobryn stated that his name was left off the attendee
list in the March meeting minutes. The Chair asked the Education Administrator
to add Mr. Kobryn’s name to the list. The Education Administrator stated that
he would add Mr. Kobryn’s name.
3.
Review pending accreditor applications for recommendation to the
Commission
None Pending
4.
Review pending advanced accredited courses for recommendation to the
Commission
Course: 2007 FBC Building Structural Summary
Provider: University of Florida-Florida Energy
Extension
Accreditor:
BCIC LLC
BCIS
Course Number: 470.0
Motion: Course approved based on the FBC
accreditation process that only verifies the accuracy of the Florida Building
Code related content.
Motion: Jon Hamrick
Second: Herminio Gonzalez
Approved
Unanimously
Course: Florida Building Code - Accessibility
Provider: Department of Community Affairs - TRP
Accreditor:
Bill Dumbaugh
BCIS
Course Number: 469.0
Motion: Course approved based on the FBC
accreditation process that only verifies the accuracy of the Florida Building
Code related content.
Motion: Jon Hamrick
Second: Herminio Gonzalez
Approved
Unanimously
5. Review administratively approved
updated courses for recommendation to Commission
None Pending
6. Review self affirmed
updated courses for recommendation to the Commission
The Chair asked for a Consent Motion for the
self-affirmed courses listed below.
Course:
Advanced Code Module Course For Electricians
Provider:
Mike Holt Enterprises, Inc.
BCIS
Course Number: 349.1
Consent Motion: Courses approved based on self-affirmation by the provider that only verifies the accuracy of the Florida Building Code related content.
Motion: Jon Hamrick
Second: Ken Gregory
Approved Unanimously
7.
Review/discuss the potential impact of the 2011 legislative session as
it pertains to the FBC’s education/accreditation program.
The Chair asked Cam Fentriss to address this question.
Cam stated that details of
the legislative session (and subsequent legislation) as it pertains to the
Florida Building Commission and the education/accreditation program can be
found in the Education Administrator’s report.
Cam then stated that the
Florida Building Commission will be moving to the Department of Business and
Professional Regulation (DBPR). She further stated that the building and design
industry in Florida is recommending to DBPR that the FBC remain in its current
configuration. Cam also stated that Ila Jones is working diligently to make the
move (to DBPR) as smooth as possible. Finally, Cam said that the Codes bill has
not been signed yet and that it didn’t include anything specifically related to
education and training.
Med Kopczynski asked if DCA
staff will physically be relocated. Ila Jones stated that the DCA staff that
supports the FBC will be relocated to the Northwood Center in Tallahassee.
The Chair asked Ila if the
FBC budget (and budgeting process) will be affected by moving to DBPR. Ila
stated that the budget for this fiscal year will remain generally unchanged.
She further said that she does not know how DBPR will handle the budget when
she submits it for next fiscal year.
The Chair asked Ila Jones
how active (she thinks) the Secretary of DBPR will be with FBC business, versus
the activity level of the Secretary of DCA. Ila stated that she didn’t know,
but that Tim Vaccaro, the Division Director of the Division of Professions at
DBPR, will be attending the Commission meeting next week and will be answering
those kinds of questions.
No further action was taken.
8. Review/discuss the proposed
boilerplate language developed by FBC general counsel regarding the
intellectual property rights of course materials placed on the BCIS.
The Chair
stated that a discussion took place last meeting, which focused on the concern
by training providers about the intellectual property rights of their training
materials. Specifically, providers wanted to make sure that their materials
would not be stolen or copied from the BCIS. The Chair agreed and asked the FBC
General Counsel, Jim Richmond, to create language to place on the BCIS, to both
educate and warn the public about the intellectual property rights of those
training materials.
Jim Richmond
stated that he had not created that language yet, but will do so in the near
future and post on the BCIS. The Chair asked if the Education POC members could
review (not approve) the language after its development. Jim Richmond stated
that they could review that language.
No further action was taken.
9.
Education Administrator activity
report
A. Provided administrative support for FBC Education POC for March
30, 2011 meeting
B. Drafted minutes for FBC Education POC March 30, 2011 meeting
C. Prepared agenda for FBC Education POC meeting on June 1, 2011
D. Inquiries from
the public March 19, 2011 to May 18, 2011 as follows:
22 inquiries: 7 telephone; 6 email; 9 telephone and email
Category of
inquirers:
7 Providers 3 Engineer 1 Contractor
1 Publisher 10 Consumer (elevator code, energy rater, specialty
license application,
swimming pool, roofing, construction lien law)
Types of
Inquiries:
3 Core course for engineers
5 Provider questions
2 Course approval
2 Specialty license question
on testing
1 Consumer question on
elevator code
1 Roofing
4 Swimming pool (3
residential, 1 commercial)
1 Construction contract
1 Construction lien law
1 Energy rater qualification
question
1 Landscape resource
E. Impact of the 2011
legislative session – Only one bill that passed directly impacts section
553.841, Florida Statutes, Building Code Compliance and Mitigation Program. The
bill is SB 2156 by Senate Budget Committee, transferring duties and functions
from various agencies to other agencies. For section 553.841, the specific
changes are to subsections (2) and (5) as follows:
(2) The Department of Business and Professional
Regulation Community Affairs shall administer a program, designated
as the Florida Building Code Compliance and Mitigation Program, to develop,
coordinate, and maintain education and outreach to persons required to comply
with the Florida Building Code and ensure consistent education, training, and
communication of the code’s requirements, including, but not limited to,
methods for mitigation of storm-related damage. The program shall also operate
a clearinghouse through which design, construction, and building code
enforcement licensees, suppliers, and consumers in this state may find others
in order to exchange information relating to mitigation and facilitate repairs
in the aftermath of a natural disaster.
(5) Each biennium, upon receipt of funds by the
Department of Business and Professional Regulation Community Affairs from
the Construction Industry Licensing Board and the Electrical Contractors’
Licensing Board provided under ss. 489.109(3) and 489.509(3), the department
shall determine the amount of funds available for the Florida Building Code
Compliance and Mitigation Program.
As of
May 19, 2011, the bill had not yet been sent to Governor Scott for his review.
There was a “building codes bill” that passed this year, but it does not
include anything specifically related to education and training. The bill is
CS/CS/CS/HB 849 by Daniel Davis (R-Jacksonville), and, as of May 19, 2011, it
has not yet been sent to the governor for review. If the governor approves the
bill, it generally takes effect July 1, 2011. Below is a summary of only some
of the changes in this legislation (the bill contains much more than this):
Exempts triennial updates of the Florida Building Code
and the Florida Fire Prevention Code from legislative ratification
After the 2010 code, changes the way the Florida
Building Code is developed as follows:
Requires that the Florida Building Commission use the
International Codes published by the International Code Council, the National
Electric Code (NFPA 70), or other nationally adopted model codes and standards
needed to develop the base code in Florida.
Removes the provision that requires maintaining
Florida-specific amendments previously adopted by the Florida Building
Commission and not addressed by the updated foundation code.
Specifies that amendments or modifications to the
foundation code remain effective only until the effective date of a new edition
of the Florida Building Code every third year, except:
Amendments or modifications related to state agency
regulations which are adopted and integrated into an edition of the Florida
Building Code shall be carried forward (subject to modification)
Amendments or modifications related to the
wind-resistance design of buildings and structures within the high-velocity
hurricane zone of Miami-Dade and Broward Counties which are adopted to an
edition of the Florida Building Code shall be carried forward (subject to
review or modification)
If an amendment that expires (or sunsets) is
resubmitted, the amendment must specifically address whether:
1.
The provisions contained in the proposed amendment are addressed in the
applicable international code.
2.
The amendment demonstrates by evidence or data that the geographical
jurisdiction of Florida exhibits a need to strengthen the foundation code
beyond the needs or regional variations addressed by the foundation code, and
why the proposed amendment applies to this state.
3.
The proposed amendment was submitted or attempted to be included in the
foundation codes to avoid resubmission to the Florida Building Code amendment
process.
If the proposed amendment has been addressed in the
international code in a substantially equivalent manner, the Florida Building
Commission may not include the proposed amendment in the foundation code.
Amends section 627.711, Florida Statutes, relating to
premium discounts for hurricane loss mitigation and the uniform mitigation
verification inspection form (form 1802), to specify that the required 3 hours
of mitigation training for home inspectors (licensed under section 468.8314,
Florida Statutes) must be approved by the Construction Industry Licensing
Board.
The
Education POC may see more courses submitted for approval as a result of the
change to section 627.711.
F. As
of November 10, 2010, we have 112 training providers and 12 accreditors
G.
Building A Safer Florida will be scheduling a workgroup meeting/conference call
in early June to explore and discuss the possible creation of a Division of
Construction and Design at the Department of Business and Professional
Regulation (DBPR). We will send out a notice for all interested parties to
attend or join the call.
Background:
At DBPR, there are five licensing boards governing licensees who must comply
with the Florida Building Code. There is also one board (Board of Professional
Engineers) that is privatized governing engineers who must comply with the
Florida Building Code. The DBPR boards are:
Board of Architecture and Interior Design
Board of Landscape Architecture
Building Code Administrators and Inspectors Board
Construction Industry Licensing Board
Electrical Contractors Licensing Board
Each
board has its own staff, processes, and requirements (some boards share staff
with other boards). The boards and DBPR staff (through offices that deal with a
wide variety of licensees and licensure requirements) handle licensure
requirements for these affected categories. Examples of requirements handled by
DBPR staff include handling telephone calls from the public and licensees,
processing of licensure applications, continuing education course applications,
and prosecution of licensure complaints or unlicensed activity charges.
For
ten years (or longer), the construction industry has discussed the possible
benefits of bringing more uniformity and better coordination to the regulation
of design and construction by having all such regulation under one office
(including licensure, discipline, course approvals, etc.).
Transfer
of the Florida Building Commission to the Department of Business and
Professional Regulation creates greater interest in better coordination of
licensure and codes functions as they relate to the design and construction
industries.
Additional
information: A division must be created in statute. Certified public
accountants operate through a separate division at DBPR (with board offices
located in Gainesville and the division director appointed by the secretary and
subject to approval of the Board of Accountancy). Realtors operate through a
separate division at DBPR ((with board offices located in Orlando and the
division director appointed by the secretary and subject to approval of the
Florida Real Estate Commission). The divisions that currently exist at DBPR
are:
Administration
Alcoholic
Beverages and Tobacco
Certified
Public Accounting
Florida
Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes
Hotels
and Restaurants
Pari-mutuel
Wagering
Professions
(where design and construction boards are
now, and where the FBC will go when moved)
Real
Estate
Regulation
Technology
Service
Operations
(Compare
the Department of Community Affairs that has three divisions: Emergency
Management, Housing and Community Development (where FBC is located), and
Community Planning.)
Questions for Discussion: 1. Would it be beneficial to coordinate licensing
and regulatory functions for design and construction under one division?
3.
If such a
division were created, what other components of regulation relating to design
and construction should be included (such as home inspections, asbestos, public pools, etc.)?
Discussion: Cam stated that
regarding the dissolution of DCA, the building and design industry wanted to
recommend where the FBC ended up being housed. Some of the options discussed
were the Department of Insurance, the Agency for Workforce Innovation and
DBPR---of course, DBPR was the choice.
The Chair asked if there was a housing component at DCA. Cam stated that yes, there was a housing component and that it still exists. Cam further stated that construction associations have advocated for the FBC to be placed under the Secretary’s Office at DBPR, until a separate Division of Construction and Design could be approved and formed. However, for the near future, the FBC will be housed in the Division of Professions at DBPR.
The Chair asked if the POC could view an
organizational chart of DBPR. Cam stated that she listed the current divisions
of DBPR on page three of the Education Administrator’s Report.
10. Identify future POC member
discussion items
The Chair
asked if there were any more questions or comments.
Alex Kobryn
stated that he noticed on the BCIS that his course approval was about to
expire. Ila Jones stated that a technical issue arose in BCIS, and that it was
being corrected. She further said that Alex’s course would remain in the
approved status.
Cam Fentriss
stated that it was posted in the BCIS that many training providers were
scheduled to lose their approved status May 31, 2011. She said that the
approved status of training providers has been extended within the BCIS until
June 30, 2020.
Michael Clark
(Education Administrator staff) stated that dates have been standardized for
the remaining Education POC meeting dates for the 2011 calendar year. Those
standardized dates are scheduled approximately two weeks prior to each
remaining FBC plenary session. The dates
are: July 27th, September 28th, and November 21st,
with all meetings convening at 10:00 am EST.
Commissioner
Gregory asked---with the new code being adopted, will affected courses have to
be approved. Cam Fentriss stated that affected courses will need to be reviewed
and will likely be approved by either the administrative or self affirmation
forms of approval. Courses that need to
be revised will go through the current FBC accreditation process.
11. General public comment
No public
comment was offered at this time.
12. Summary and review of meeting work
products/action items, assignments, and next steps
No new
assignments were handed out.
Adjourn (Adjourned at 10:25 am.)
Motion: To adjourn
Motion: Herminio Gonzalez
Second: Jon Hamrick
Approved Unanimously
The Education POC considered and recommends the
following:
The following new courses are recommended for approval:
Course: 2007 FBC Building Structural Summary
Provider: University of Florida – Florida Energy Extension
Accreditor: BCIC LLC
BCIS Course Number: 470.0
Motion: Course approved based on the FBC accreditation process that only verifies the accuracy of the Florida Building Code related content.
Motion: Jon Hamrick
Second: Herminio Gonzalez
Approved Unanimously
Course: Florida Building Code - Accessibility
Provider: Department of Community Affairs- TRP
Accreditor: Bill Dumbaugh
BCIS Course Number: 469.0
Motion: Course approved based on the FBC accreditation process that only verifies the accuracy of the Florida Building Code related content.
Motion: Jon Hamrick
Second: Herminio Gonzalez
Approved Unanimously
The following self-affirmed courses are recommended for
approval:
Course:
Advanced Code Module Course For Electricians
Provider:
Mike Holt Enterprises, Inc.
BCIS
Course Number: 349.1
Consent Motion: Courses approved based on self-affirmation by the provider that only verifies the accuracy of the Florida Building Code related content.
Motion: Jon Hamrick
Second: Ken Gregory
Approved Unanimously
Note: This document is available in
alternate formats upon request to the Department of Community Affairs, Codes
and Standards, 255 Shumard Oak Blvd., Tallahassee, Fl. 32399, (850) 487-1824.