It has been said that the legislative process is much like sausage making—it’s not something you necessarily want to see or be involved with. The same applies to the code promulgation process. There are lots of twists and turns and maneuvers that most don’t care to know about. If you are one of those, just know that it is highly unlikely you will see any new residential code enforced in our state this year. There is a chance that the outdated, costly and inflexible 2021 proposed changes by the State could be thrust upon the industry late in the year, but HBAM is working hard to prevent that. We’ve been successful in doing so for nearly two years now. On March 12^th, several of our members testified before the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR), asking the legislature to send the proposed 2021 code rules back to our state’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) and, instead, have them bring the new 2024-IRC forward for approval, which we support. The joint committee passed a motion to do just that. At the time this issue of Michigan Builder went to print, LARA had not yet indicated whether they would heed JCAR’s request. Adopting the 2024-IRC model code has the backing of virtually every interested party. In fact, following a December meeting to take public input on whether to adopt the 2024-IRC, LARA released a statement saying they will move to adopt this newer more flexible code set. Yet, they subsequently said they will first move to put the 2021 proposed codes in place. This does not make sense!

State law directs LARA to update codes no more frequently than once every three years, so LARA would not be able to promulgate a new residential code until 2028 at the earliest, should the 2021 code rules go into effect. HBAM can only speculate why LARA has stated they are in support of two mutually exclusive outcomes. Certainly, there are some manufacturers that stand to gain more from the 2021 codes than the 2024-IRC. Simply put, the 2021 proposed rules would force the purchase a narrower set of products whereas the 2024 model code gives several paths to comply, providing flexibility and enabling design ingenuity. It will also do more to protect the environment. Initial studies have shown the newer set of codes will improve energy efficiency gains by more than 6% over the 2021 code. Stay tuned.