The Michigan House of Representative has taken the first step to restoring sanity to Michigan’s
construction code process. House Bill 4561, the Flexible Code Cycle bill introduced by State
Representative Joe Havemam, R-Holland, was approved on Thursday by a bipartisan vote of 68 to 39.
Haveman’s measure was supported by the Michigan Municipal League, the Michigan Association of
Realtors, the Small Business Association of Michigan, the American Wood Council, the National
Federation of Independent Business, the Coalition for a Fair Energy Code as well as the Michigan
Association of Home Builders. The bill now goes to the Michigan State Senate where it is expected to be referred to the Senate Regulatory Reform Committee.
The measure was actually approved twice. The first was House Roll Call 518 when the bill tallied a 68
to 38 vote count. Almost immediately after the first vote was taken the House Majority Floor Leader
asked for a second vote on the bill in order to allow a representative who was off the floor talking
with the Lieutenant Governor a chance to vote on the bill. Roll Call 519 ended with a vote of 68 to
39.
Individual representatives were heavily lobbied by a formidable national coalition who opposed this
common sense reform. That coalition included makers of insulation products who gain every time a
more stringent and expensive energy code is adopted, fire sprinkler manufacturers and fire officials
who demand residential sprinklers in all homes, the electrical manufacturers backing arc
‐fault interrupters, and the private companies that create the code and then profit every time a new edition is published.
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