Maine is among only a handful of states without a building code.

PORTLAND (AP) – A legislative committee Tuesday takes up a proposal to establish a voluntary statewide building code, a move that proponents say could lead to safer buildings.

Maine is among only a handful of states without a building code. Previous proposals for a statewide code were defeated after municipalities said they would usurp home rule.

Sen. Lynn Bromley, D-South Portland, who chairs the Business Research and Economic Development Committee, said the latest proposal addresses concerns of towns and cities and has a better chance of winning approval.

“This is going to be different. Maine has done something quite extraordinary,” Bromley said.

The code would be voluntary and communities could amend it to reflect specific conditions within a region.

Proponents of a statewide building code say it would raise the quality of construction across the state and possibly reduce costs to consumers.

Also before Bromley’s committee is a related proposal put forward by the Attorney General’s Office that would have required building contractors to be licensed. That measure appears to have stalled, although the building code proposal could incorporate some aspects of the licensing plan.

While Maine has statewide fire and safety, plumbing and electrical standards, there is no set of standards for what constitutes a structurally sound commercial or residential building. Maine now leaves it up to local governments to decide what building code to adopt or whether to adopt one at all.

Arizona, Hawaii, Illinois and Texas do not have commercial building codes. New Hampshire adopted a statewide code in 2002.

The building code proposal was developed from the work of a task force of building inspectors, code-enforcement officers, public safety officials and contractors charged by Bromley’s committee to come up with a building code consensus.

Their proposal, called the Maine Model Building code, is based on a model that includes a popular set of standards widely used by the roughly 90 Maine communities that have adopted codes.

Under the current plan, communities could amend the code to address specific conditions within a region. For example, communities may want to modify standards for a building’s ability to bear a snow load according to local conditions.

“You might want to build up to one standard in Fort Kent and another in Cape Elizabeth,” Bromley said.

Norm Fecteau, an Auburn building inspector and member of the task force, says builders are now faced with a hodgepodge of local building rules and regulations in the communities that have adopted codes.

He says a statewide code will not only raise the bar for construction standards, but also will give builders a single standard from which to operate.

“They will no longer be at the whim of local building inspectors.” Fecteau said.

Mark Patterson, co-owner of Patco Construction Inc., a Sanford company that builds in about 20 southern Maine communities, says a statewide building code would simplify his job.

“Each one of the communities has different issues and requirements and it tends to be confusing,” Patterson said.

AP-ES-02-09-04 0701EST