125.1504 State construction code; rules; promulgation; contents; purposes, objectives, and standards; recommendations by boards; frequency of updates; public meeting; notice; request to promulgate rule; availability of code to public; use of material or method of manufacture during interim.

Sec. 4.

    (1) The director shall prepare and promulgate the state construction code consisting of rules governing the construction, use, and occupation of buildings and structures, including land area incidental to the buildings and structures, the manufacture and installation of building components and equipment, the construction and installation of premanufactured units, the standards and requirements for materials to be used in connection with the units, and other requirements relating to the safety, including safety from fire, and sanitation facilities of the buildings and structures.

    (2) The code shall consist of the international residential code, the international building code, the international mechanical code, the international plumbing code, the international existing building code, and the international energy conservation code published by the international code council and the national electrical code published by the national fire prevention association, with amendments, additions, or deletions as the director determines appropriate. The director may adopt all or any part of these codes or the standards contained within these codes by reference.

    (3) The code shall be designed to effectuate the general purposes of this act and the following objectives and standards:

    (a) To provide standards and requirements for construction and construction materials consistent with nationally recognized standards and requirements.

    (b) To formulate standards and requirements, to the extent practicable in terms of performance objectives, so as to make adequate performance for the use intended the test of acceptability.

    (c) To permit to the fullest extent feasible the use of modern technical methods, devices, and improvements, including premanufactured units, consistent with reasonable requirements for the health, safety, and welfare of the occupants and users of buildings and structures.

    (d) To eliminate restrictive, obsolete, conflicting, or unnecessary construction regulations that tend to increase construction costs unnecessarily or restrict the use of new materials, products, or methods of construction, or provide preferential treatment to types or classes of materials or products or methods of construction.

    (e) To ensure adequate maintenance of buildings and structures throughout this state and to adequately protect the health, safety, and welfare of the people.

    (f) To provide standards and requirements for cost-effective energy efficiency that will be effective April 1, 1997.

    (g) Upon periodic review, to continue to seek ever-improving, cost-effective energy efficiencies.

    (h) To develop a voluntary consumer information system relating to energy efficiencies.

    (4) The code shall be divided into sections as the director considers appropriate including, without limitation, building, plumbing, electrical, and mechanical sections. The boards shall participate in and work with the staff of the director in the preparation of parts relating to their functions. Before the promulgation of an amendment to the code, the boards whose functions relate to that code may draft and recommend to the director proposed language. The director shall consider all submissions by the boards. However, the director has final responsibility for the promulgation of the code.

    (5) The director shall add, amend, and rescind rules to update the Michigan building code, the Michigan mechanical code, the Michigan plumbing code, the Michigan rehabilitation code for existing buildings, the Michigan electrical code, and the commercial chapters of the Michigan energy code not less than once every 3 years to coincide with the national code change cycle.

    (6) Within 90 days after the effective date of the 2012 act that amended this section, the director shall begin the process to add, amend, or rescind rules to update the 2009 Michigan residential code, including the residential energy code chapter. Commencing with the 2015 national code change cycle, the director shall add, amend, and rescind rules to simultaneously update all chapters of the Michigan residential code not less frequently than once every 6 years or more frequently than once every 3 years as the director determines is appropriate. Not more than 200 days after the printed publication of the latest edition of the international residential code book is made available to the general public, the director shall hold a public meeting in Lansing and offer persons an opportunity to present data and comments on the general need to update the Michigan residential code. The department shall give 30 days' advance notice of a meeting under this subsection on the department's website. Not more than 30 days after the meeting, the director shall issue a written determination whether to update the Michigan residential code. The department shall post notice of the determination on its website for at least 45 days.

    (7) If the director makes the determination not to update the Michigan residential code, a person may, within 45 days after the determination, request the director to promulgate a rule to amend a section or sections of the Michigan residential code. Within 90 days after the filing of a request, the director shall initiate the processing of a rule or shall issue to the requestor a concise written statement of the principal reasons for denial of the request and post the denial statement on the department's website until the Michigan residential code is next updated. The denial of the request is not subject to judicial review.

    (8) Before the Michigan building code, the Michigan residential code, the Michigan plumbing code, the Michigan mechanical code, the Michigan uniform energy code, and the Michigan rehabilitation code may be enforced, the director shall make each Michigan-specific code available to the general public for at least 45 days in printed, electronic, or other form that does not require the user to purchase additional documents or data in any form in order to have an updated complete version of each specific code, excluding other referenced standards within each code. This subsection does not apply to any code effective before April 1, 2005. If the Michigan residential code is updated on a 6-year cycle, then use of a material, product, method of manufacture, or method or manner of construction or installation provided for in an interim edition of the international residential code is authorized throughout this state and shall be permitted, but shall not be mandated, by an enforcing agency or its building official or inspectors. However, the enforcing agency or its building official or inspectors may require that if such a material, product, method of manufacture, or method or manner of construction or installation provided for in an interim edition of the international residential code is used, the use shall comply with all applicable requirements set forth in the interim edition of the international residential code.