Florida Building Codes – History
When Hurricane Andrew tore apart South Florida, it exposed more than the interiors of thousands of homes and businesses. The storm also revealed a serious statewide problem: our antiquated system of locally-administered building codes and building code compliance and enforcement.

Thousands of homes and other structures simply didn't stand up to the storm as well as they should have, and the effects quickly rippled out from South Florida to the rest of the state.

Andrew broke all records for insurance losses, and was the direct cause of Florida's worst insurance crisis in history. Insurers suddenly realized that all of their worst-case predictions were grossly understated - Florida was seriously underinsured and overexposed.

In the aftermath, many insurers simply pulled out of Florida and those that stayed felt it necessary to raise rates to staggering new levels in order to avoid the very real risk of sudden bankruptcy following another huge storm. Homeowners all over Florida were affected as they saw their rates rise drastically and found a lack of available new insurance threatening to pull the plug on development in every part of the state.

The secret was out. Building codes and their administration and enforcement was a statewide issue, with statewide implications. Poor compliance or enforcement in a single county could (and did) wreak havoc with homeowners, developers and commercial interests in every corner of the state.

A Statewide Solution for a Statewide Problem
Andrew was Florida's wake-up call. It was clearly time to begin to make Florida far more resistant to destruction from natural disasters such as Andrew. The manner in which so many neighborhoods had simply blown to pieces drew attention to the building code system. Did Florida need a stronger code? Or was the problem compliance? Subsequent investigation quickly uncovered a pattern of widespread code violations which led to catastrophic structural failures. In July of 1996, the Florida Building Codes Study Commission was established to evaluate the existing system and to recommend ways to improve or reform the system if they found it necessary. During 16 months of study, what the commission found was a complex and confusing patchwork system of codes and regulations developed, amended, administered and enforced differently by more than 400 local jurisdictions and state agencies with building code responsibilities. In the case of Hurricane Andrew, the problem was not weakness in the codes themselves that contributed to the extensive storm damage. Rather, it was the inability to enforce and comply with the confusing system of multiple codes and administrative processes. It had become clear that Florida needed a single, statewide building code system, and the Commission and the Legislature saw to it that Florida would get it.

The Legislature Mandates the Development of a New Building Code System with HB 4181
The Report of the Building Codes Study Commission made a number of specific recommendations for reforming the building codes system, centered around the concept of a single statewide code. The 1998 Legislature adopted the concept and most of the recommendations as part of House Bill 4181. The law directed the development of the Florida Building Code and instructed that recommendations of the Governor’s Building Code Study Commission be considered during the development. For more information visit the Department of Community Affairs online.

Source: http://www.dca.state.fl.us/fbc/information/building_commission.htm

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