Court to hear BIAW’s Building Code Council motion on Friday

December 6, 2021

Thurston County Superior Court Judge James Dixon will hear BIAW’s motion for sanctions in its challenge to the Governor’s building code council appointment process Friday.

Seattle Attorney Callie Castillo will argue the motion on BIAW’s behalf at 10 a.m. via Zoom.

The hearing will also be available via TVW. 

In an announcement in late November, BIAW said it filed the motion for sanctions after the Attorney General’s Office admitted it misrepresented the governor’s appointment process in an earlier hearing.

BIAW seeks fair building code council representation

In the underlying case, BIAW challenged the Governor’s authority to appoint a residential building industry representative to the Washington State Building Code Council (SBCC) who was not nominated by BIAW.

Washington state law reserves one of the two general contracting positions on the SBCC for residential construction and another for commercial construction. It also requires the governor to appoint only people who have been nominated by “trade associations representing the industry, unless no names are put forth by the trade associations.” This requirement ensures that groups affected by the code have a role in changes made to the code and the timing of their implementation.

BIAW, the only statewide trade association representing residential construction, negotiated the language in the law to ensure the industry was fairly represented on the council.

“BIAW carefully negotiated changes to this law with the governor’s office and they agreed that those changes require the governor to appoint people nominated by BIAW, the residential construction industry’s trade association,” said BIAW’s Executive Vice President Greg Lane. “The state building code council makes critical decisions that affect not only our industries but hundreds of thousands of homeowners and businesses. The law was designed to ensure industries directly affected by the code have a voice in changes made and the timing of their implementation for the good of those we serve.”

The governor earlier this year chose not to select any of the individuals on the list of nominees submitted by BIAW and instead appointed someone different.