Adoption of New Building, Fire Codes Caught Up in Politics

Politics have entangled the adoption of new building and fire codes for California, with Republicans charging Tuesday that two of Democratic Gov. Gray Davis’ appointees to the Building Standards Commission are too beholden to labor to vote fairly on the issue.

At a Capitol news conference, Assemblyman John Campbell (R-Irvine) called for the removal of Sidney Cavanaugh, a special representative to the United Assn. of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumping and Pipe Fitting Industry, and Barry Broad, a lobbyist who has represented the plumbers’ union. Campbell also said he would strip money for the 11-member commission from Republican budget proposals.

The commission, with six employees, costs roughly $700,000 a year.

“Building standards codes should be set on the basis of trying to get the best safety for the lowest cost,” Campbell said, “and they shouldn’t have special-interest lobbying involved or lobbyists involved.”

The commission is poised to choose between two sets of building and fire codes as part of California’s triennial review of construction standards.

One set, written by the International Code Council, is endorsed by structural engineers, architects and building officials. The other code book, written by the National Fire Protection Assn., is supported by plumbers and firefighters unions and the state fire marshal.

The code books govern such things as how many windows and doors a building should have and the fire resistance of materials used in hallways. The association whose approach is adopted gains the opportunity to sell sets of code books and training seminars to the hundreds of California cities and counties that would have to comply with the codes.

On a 3-2 vote after an eight-hour subcommittee hearing two weeks ago, Cavanaugh, Broad and Commissioner Tim Brink voted to recommend that the entire Building Standards Commission adopt the union-backed codes.

The commission will hear more testimony about the two proposals today and vote sometime before October, said commission Executive Director Stan Nishimura.

Broad called Campbell’s news conference “pure political theater and intimidation” and said it was “outrageous” to suggest that, because he represented labor unions, he could not vote fairly on selection of building codes.

“I’m trying to weigh all this testimony and figure out what’s right for the state,” Broad said.

Cavanaugh also dismissed the notion that his vote would be influenced by his association with the plumbers union. As a standards and codes professional for the union, he has served on technical committees to help write both the Code Council and Fire Protection Assn. code books.

“I’m familiar with the procedures,” Cavanaugh said. “That’s the reason I got this position on the commission to begin with. Not only because of my union background, but my technical and professional expertise.”

Both Broad and Cavanaugh said their votes would be influenced by the state fire marshal’s endorsement of the Fire Protection Assn. plan. Three other state agencies asked to review the codes favored the Code Council code book.

A spokesman for the governor, Steve Maviglio, called Broad and Cavanaugh independent appointees who make independent decisions.

“This is a question of building codes, not politics,” he said.

Campbell, who supports an effort underway to recall Davis, called the recent votes by Cavanaugh and Broad “the latest Davis pay-to-play scheme” and a reward for campaign donors.

The plumbing trade has given Davis more than $3 million since 1998. Firefighters unions have donated more than $100,000 to the anti-recall campaign, and the anti-recall effort is based at the California Professional Firefighters headquarters in Sacramento.

Campbell argued that the unions stood to benefit from adoption of the Fire Protection Assn. code book.

“That’s how the plumbing union can get benefit from this thing ... to require additional unnecessary labor and to require the use of particular materials and methods that most of the industry and city officials and safety officials and everyone else do not believe is necessary and cost-effective,” he said.

But even the building officials who joined Campbell at the news conference said direct benefits for union plumbers and firefighters were tough to find in the Fire Protection Assn. code book.

The building codes under debate by the commission do not include standards for plumbing or firefighter staffing.

Robert Raymer, technical director for the California Building Industry Assn., said the state’s current plumbing codes had been written with the help of the plumbers union. He described the building industry as “very happy” with that code.