1. The National Alliance for Building Regulatory Reform in the Digital Age REDUCING BARRIERS TO HOUSING DEVELOPMENT & AFFORDABILITY The use of information technology to streamline the nation's building regulatory process to enable our construction industry "to build faster, better, safer and at less cost." How Regulatory Barriers Impact Housing Development St. Paul, Minnesota January 7-8, 2004

2. CONSTRUCTION'S CRITICAL ROLE IN OUR PUBLIC'S SAFETY AND THE ECONOMIC HEALTH OF OUR NATION IT'S A LARGE PART OF OUR ECONOMY -$1.1 trillion per year industry -12 % of our gross domestic product -50 % of our national wealth is in buildings -Provides the infrastructure for our economy -It stimulates economic recovery and growth -It houses where Americans live, work, and play

3. THE CONSTRUCTION REGULATORY PROCESS EITHER Enhances the economic development, competitiveness and public safety by ensuring safe, affordable, quality buildings; disaster resistance; and, where regulations are uniform within a region, ready response. OR Hinders economic development, competitiveness and public safety by causing unnecessary confusion, cost, and time delays through overlapping, duplicative, and conflicting regulations, codes, and standards.

4. THE CONSTRUCTION REGULATORY PROCESS AS A HINDRANCE - Restricts widespread use and market for aggregation for new products and technologies - Adds as much as $100,000 per day in additional costs for unnecessary inspection delays - Makes it difficult for neighboring jurisdictions to coordinate disaster protection and provide immediate disaster response assistance to each other

5. UNFORTUNATELY, IN THE U.S. TODAY TOO MANY JURISDICTIONS FIND THEIR REGULATORY PROCESS IS THE LATTER (HINDRANCE) NOT THE FORMER THE PROBLEM? -Over 44,000 units of state and local governments adopt and enforce construction codes and standards -Stovepipe bureaucracies and regulatory overlap/duplication cause conflict and confusion between government, the public and the construction community, slowing down construction process, reducing competitiveness, and safety -Lack of greater use of Information Technology (IT) -Procurements, training, and common operating standards keeping costs for these services too high for many jurisdictions and limiting the market for software industry.

6. TO ADDRESS THESE PROBLEMS THE MAY 31 - JUNE 1, 2001 NATIONAL FORUM ON BUILDING SMARTER IN THE DIGITAL AGE - ARLINGTON, VA -In the summer of 2001, representatives from 41 national organizations representing the construction and information technology communities and governmental agencies from all levels of government came together to discuss these problems and see how information technology might remove these barriers to safe, affordable construction

7. TO ADDRESS THESE PROBLEMS The Forum participants gained common understanding of barriers and drafted an Action Agenda to address these problems. They also proposed the formation of a national alliance to implement the draft Agenda of reform

8. NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR BUILDING REGULATORY REFORM IN THE DIGITAL AGE FORMED AND ACTION AGENDA ADOPTED Vision Statement Use information technology to transform the nation's building regulatory process to enable the nation's construction industry to build "faster, better, safer and at less cost." JULY 12, 2001 - National Governors Association

9. II - ADOPTED ACTION AGENDA STATEMENT OF NEED AND WORK PRODUCTS Growing demand by public and private sectors for government to operate more effectively and efficiently to both enhance homeland security and reduce regulatory time/costs creates immediate need for: -A national coordinated effort involving all levels of government, construction, and I.T. communities to: -Identify and share best practices - hardware, software, and restructuring of the architecture of our current regulatory system to reduce regulatory costs to construction by up to 60% -Promote common standards for digital signatures, simple common e-permits, plans review, field inspection software, and common systems requirements that include interoperability -Identify and obtain funding to develop an advocacy and grants program to streamline the nation's building regulatory process at all levels of government, facilitated by the more effective use of information technology

10. III - ADOPTED ACTION AGENDA IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

11. FROM FALL 2001 - FALL 2003 THE ALLIANCE Held organizational meetings of committees and task forces, adopted work agendas, and

12. WORK ACCOMPLISHED BY THE ALLIANCE -Developed a matrix and placed on Alliance portion of NCSBCS website a "Listing of software currently available to state and local governments." -Placed on website of Model streamlining processes -With assistance from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO), initiated work on architecture for more efficient building regulatory systems at state and local levels of government -Developed Business Case for Regulatory Streamlining -Reviewed hardware being used

13. WORK ACCOMPLISHED BY ALLIANCE (Continued) Drafted and distributed outline of the components of a secure, nationwide, state- maintained database for first responders of as-built building designs, evacuation plans, and other key contact information for critical structures

14. OTHER ALLIANCE ACTIVITIES FROM JULY 2001 - SEPTEMBER 2003 -Issued annual reports to nation's governors, CIOs, state legislators Governors attending the NGA E-Governance Task Force (above) Meeting at NGA Annual Meeting in Providence, RI on August 6, 2001 received a CD-ROM report on the formation of the Alliance

15. OTHER ALLIANCE ACTIVITIES (Continued) -Expanded Alliance Membership to 42 -Articles in publications / presentations at national meetings -Meetings with White House Office of Science and Technology Policy -Prototype streamlining projects with states of CA, KY, NY, OR, PA, VA, WA -Developed and posted on website model procurement guidelines for state and local governments

16. Other Alliance Activities INITIATE WORK OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING TASK FORCE - First meeting August 29, 2002 - Meeting April, 2003 - Meeting January, 2004

17. MISSION STATEMENT FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING TASK FORCE "Provide mechanism for rapid dissemination to local and state building regulators, home builders, elected officials, and the public, information on, and set of work tools generated by, the National Alliance that lower the cost of residential construction through the effective use of information technology." The Affordable Housing Task Force will coordinate these efforts with the ongoing efforts of the task force members, including the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH). Initial products include: draft guide to rural and suburban jurisdictions on how to streamline their building regulatory processes, and listing of available, permitting, plans review and inspection software.

18. EXAMPLES OF STREAMLINED REGULATORY PROCESSES AND SAVINGS TO COMMUNITIES

19. Examples of Streamlined Processes -One Stop Permit Process - On Line Permitting -Consolidated / Combination Inspections - IVR systems for inspection scheduling -Hand-held devices for field inspections -Electronic plan submittals, review, and tracking

20. Examples of Streamlined Processes -Customer Oriented Culture - Pre-permit Counseling / Case Management -Fast Track Reviews -Staff Training and Certification -Code Uniformity and Uniform Interpretation

21. CASE STUDIES OF SAVINGS BEING ACHIEVED City of Los Angeles, California -Handled 88% increase in construction activity with only 1.5% increase in staff -Reduced Median wait time for permits from 2-3 hours to 7 minutes -Reduced Plan Check time from 10 weeks to 10 days -Reduced inspection wait time from 4-5 days to less than 24 hours -Brought 36,000 run down properties up to code

22. CASE STUDIES OF SAVINGS BEING ACHIEVED Milpitas, California -Formed, "Partnership to Achieve Goals" a coalition of home builders, other construction firms to support the City's purchase, training, and use of I.T. for on-line permit applications, permit tracking, plans submittals and reviews. -Reduced permit processing, inspection scheduling and inspection times by over 60% -Established true one-stop process for all construction code applications - working on extending to zoning and land use

23. CASE STUDIES OF SAVINGS BEING ACHIEVED State of Oregon - Tri-County Area (Portland) -Developed consortium of builders, business community and regulators to develop and launch in 2003 - Governors streamlining initiative - "Building One-Stop Process and Regulatory Streamlining Initiative." -Drafting for use first in Tri-County - Metro Portland area a one stop process for construction approvals that uses: - Common forms & procedures - E-permitting, IVR inspection scheduling - Uniform code interpretations - Ability to share building plans between jurisdiction to facilitate disaster response

24. CASE STUDIES OF SAVINGS BEING ACHIEVED Fairfax County, Virginia -Initiated program to integrate building regulatory system with zoning and land use to establish true one-stop, on- line permitting, plans review processes -Issued first of several contracts to develop database for above system

25. -Stakeholder Involvement (Builders, developers, financial community, community groups, public, elected officials, building regulators and zoning/planning officials) -Form Private-Public Partnerships -Long-term Commitment to Change/Build Trust -To Keep Trust - No Surprises KEY TO STREAMLINING SUCCESS?

26. -State and local governments need to be partners with private sector -Federal Role - Support, promote best practices/assist funding implementation

27. ACTION AGENDA ITEMS FOR SUMMER 2003 - SUMMER 2004 -Develop effective statewide and local building regulatory system architecture and share with jurisdictions (In coordination with NASCIO) -Conduct cost/benefit analysis of Regulatory Streamlining -Develop project to speed use of interoperable hardware and software by state and local governments

28. THE CHALLENGES AND NEEDS ARE GREAT AND TIME IS SHORT: -HOMELAND SECURITY - PREVENTION, PREPAREDNESS, RESPONSE -ECONOMIC RECOVERY COMPETITIVENESS -HOUSING AFFORDABILITY -GREATER EFFICIENCY IN GOVERNMENT

29. TO ASSIST THE ALLIANCE IN HELPING OUR NATION/COMMUNITIES ENHANCE PUBLIC SAFETY AND ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS : -Share information on the National Alliance with: elected and appointed officials in your state/ local community, with your construction and information technology industries, colleagues in your agency, association, company. -Encourage the use of streamlined processes and Alliance products in your state/community. -Provide information to the Alliance on I.T. applications that are effective in reducing the regulatory cost of construction and enhancing public safety. -Participate in the Alliance's Fourth National Forum on Building Smarter in the Digital Age in Salt Lake City, Utah, September 30, 2004, to learn more about what information technology can do to enhance our community's economic competitiveness and public safety.

30. ASSIST THE ALLIANCE IN HELPING OUR NATION AND YOUR STATE/COMMUNITY: -Join the National Alliance as a Member or Affiliate and become active on one or more of the Alliance's Task Forces -Contact your construction community and elected officials to express your support for the funding and implementation of the National Alliance's Action Agenda

32. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE ALLIANCE For more information on the Alliance, its Action Agenda, work products, and membership PLEASE VISIT THE NCSBCS WEBSITE: www.ncsbcs.org or contact Carolyn Fitch at NCSBCS, 703-437-0100, extension 238 / cfitch@ncsbcs.org