Subcommittee reviews amendment to bar local technical changes to state building code; delays HB 428, retains HB 244 for more review

A House subcommittee on Executive Departments and Administration heard technical testimony Thursday on an amendment to House Bill 428 that would prohibit municipalities from adopting local technical amendments to the New Hampshire State Building Code while allowing administrative amendments for permits, fees and certificates.

Phil Sherman, chair of the Building Code Review Board, told the committee the amendment would move scattered municipal building-code provisions into RSA 155-A and “essentially continue to prohibit technical amendments but allow administrative amendments.” He said the change is intended to preserve municipalities’ ability to tailor administrative practices such as plan review and permit procedures while preventing local governments from changing technical requirements in the model codes.

The amendment collapses material now spread across the 67x RSA series and RSA 4722 into 155-A, Sherman said, and would require that any local ordinance or amendment that affects code enforcement be submitted to the Building Code Review Board (BCRB) for confirmation. Sherman described the confirmation…