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Legislators eye licensing and oversight changes for building officials; ULCT seeks city plan-review timing data
Summary
In response to an Office of Professional Licensing (OPLR) audit, Representative Peterson’s HB 58 would establish licensing and conduct standards for building officials and require annual reporting; ULCT asked members to provide average plan-review timing and completeness turnaround data.
ULCT staff briefed members on House Bill 58, a response to an audit of building departments by the Office of Professional Licensing and Research (OPLR). The bill would add licensing requirements for building officials, define unprofessional conduct, and create an annual public report card of municipal building department performance to be shared with the Utah Building Code Commission (UBCC) and the Legislature.
Key proposed changes discussed: - Building official licensing: proposed minimum of six years of combined experience in building-related fields (contractor, architect, trades) and 40 hours of management training (exact training content under discussion). - Unprofessional conduct: new definitions that could include failure to keep current with code amendments and retaliatory actions against complainants. - Annual public reporting: UBCC would investigate complaints and issue findings; the results could be posted and shared with the Legislature.
Member data request and timing: Staff asked cities to provide average turnaround times for two items via a follow-up survey: 1) Average number of days for all departments to determine whether a building permit application is a complete submission (the statute requires the 14-day plan-review period to start only after a complete application is submitted). 2) Average number of days to complete a plan review for single-family, townhome, duplex (14-day statutory target) and for multifamily (21-day statutory target).
Why it matters: The draft responses to the OPLR suggest a small number of municipalities are responsible for most complaints; HB 58 aims to set statewide professional standards and a transparent performance mechanism. Municipalities asked for clarity on definitions (e.g., what constitutes “reasonable efforts”) and expressed concern about the investigatory and public-reporting mechanics.
Ending: ULCT will send a detailed survey on plan-review timing and related operational questions and continue negotiating bill language with Representative Peterson and UBCC to clarify definitions and mitigate unintended consequences.
