Senate committee hears bill to keep a single statewide building code while allowing municipal administrative variations

Representative Carol McGuire introduced House Bill 428, a policy bill intended to preserve a single, uniform state building code while allowing municipalities to retain administrative flexibility over permits, fees and local procedures.

Philip Sherman, chair of the Building Code Review Board, described the house amendment that narrows the types of municipal amendments that remain allowed. He said administrative items—permit issuance, fee schedules, certificate-of-occupancy timing and local procedural coordination with zoning—are suitable for local control, while technical code amendments should remain uniform. Sherman also noted the large number of municipalities enforcing the code and that many are midstream in an ordinance-confirmation process; the bill’s effective date was written to give towns time to finish that work.

Matt Mayberry, CEO of the Home Builders Association of New Hampshire, said the association supports one-state/one-code in principle and the amendment discussion, and urged attention to timing for energy and building code update cycles so municipalities that are ahead are not forced backward without transition time. Representatives of municipal officials emphasized the need for implementation windows that work with town-meeting and municipal-ordinance cycles.

Committee members discussed cross-references with pending Senate bills and the need to align building and fire code provisions and effective dates. No final committee action was recorded at the hearing.