State building code council says two staff positions are essential to speed code adoption

The State Building Code Council (SBCC) told the task force it lacks the staff needed to manage code adoption, coordinate county coordination and train stakeholders on new code requirements.

Howard Wig of the State Energy Office, an SBCC member, described the council’s process: national model codes are published on a three‑year cycle; Hawaii’s SBCC reviews national updates, investigative committee recommendations and then adopts or amends codes. He said county building officials comprise an SBCC subcommittee and are actively involved, but the council itself is short‑staffed.

“We need staff, staff, staff,” Wig said, arguing that two statutorily authorized positions — an executive director and an executive assistant who would serve at the council’s pleasure — should be funded to run meeting logistics, take reliable minutes, coordinate investigative committees, and provide training to industry and counties on new provisions.

Wig and other participants said lack of sustained staff has produced inconsistent minute‑taking and diminished the council’s ability to deliver timely training; they warned that without staff the council cannot both adopt modern, resilient codes and provide the outreach engineers and contractors need to apply new standards.

Members also discussed code content and cadence. Wig defended the three‑year adoption cycle aligned with national model code updates and said some other states that have considered longer cycles risk falling behind on life‑safety or resilience standards. He urged funding for the two positions as the pragmatic solution to keeping codes current and helping counties and practitioners implement them rapidly.

The task force accepted the SBCC recommendation in principle and assigned the building‑code PIG to work on operational steps, including what the two positions should do and how the state might fund and onboard them.