Legal
Governor to appoint BIAW and AGC nominees in important legal victory by Janelle Guthrie Communications Director
BIAW and the Associated General Contractors of Washington (AGC) and others won a major legal victory in our fight to secure representation on the Washington State Building Code Council (SBCC). In early April, the parties agreed to resolve the legal dispute with Gov. Jay Inslee over his handling of appointments last summer.
governor to appoint only people who have been nominated by trade associations representing those specific industries unless no names are put forth by the trade associations. This ensures that trade associations impacted by the code have a role in changes made to the code and the timing of the implementation.
Under the settlement, the two members of the SBCC the governor appointed will resign. Then the governor must replace them with nominees from BIAW and AGC. The governor’s office must also pay BIAW $70,000 in connection with a separate Public Records Act lawsuit. An important legal victory BIAW Executive Vice President Greg Lane said the settlement is important not only for builders, but for government accountability and for future home buyers. “This is a tremendous victory for the members of our association, for protecting the cost of housing and for holding elected officials accountable for following the law,” Lane said. “The Building Code Council makes critical decisions that impact hundreds of thousands of homeowners and businesses. The law was rightfully designed to ensure industries like residential construction, that are directly affected by the code, have a seat at the table when changes are considered.”
The settlement Under the terms of the settlement, the two members appointed by the governor last year to fill the residential/multi-family and general/industrial general construction positions on the SBCC will resign, but continue serving on the council as full voting members until the governor finalizes the new appointments.
The lawsuits In two separate lawsuits filed last fall, the groups alleged the governor violated the law in selecting appointees to positions representing the residential and commercial construction industries and in responding to a related public records request.
BIAW and AGC must nominate three candidates for those positions but they may not nominate anyone who has already served two terms on the council. Within five weeks of receiving the associations’ new lists of nominees, the governor will appoint a nominee from each of the new lists and each nominee will serve until Jan. 5, 2025. At that point, each will be eligible for reappointment.
The law reserves one of the two general contracting positions for residential construction and another for commercial construction. It also requires the
For more information on this and other BIAW legal matters, contact General Counsel Jackson Maynard at (360) 352-7800 ext. 108 or jacksonm@biaw.com. april 2022
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