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Washington Delays Adoption of 2011NEC
 

 


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Washington State Delays Adoption of 2011 NEC

February 8, 2011
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NEMA Code Alert: Washington, January 2011

Washington, January 2011 
Economy Blamed For Delaying Code Adoption in Washington
Submitted by Joe Andre: joe.andre@nema.org

Washington State was scheduled to begin review of the 2011 National Electrical Code in late November 2010, with adoption slated for July 2011. The one event that was unanticipated in this plan was the extent of the economic downturn around the country and in the State. In mid-November, Governor Christine Gregoire signed Executive Order 10-06 that suspended all rule development and adoption until at least January 1, 2012.  The Governor cited the economy as the reason for the Order, saying that a stable regulatory environment is an important element for an economic recovery. (http://www.governor.wa.gov/execorders/eo_10-06.pdf)

Prior to the Executive Order, the State had opened the electrical code revision process, receiving proposals from the public to be considered as amendments to the 2011 NEC or to the state’s rules. The Order came just a week prior to the scheduled meeting of the Technical Advisory Committee, which was cancelled at the last minute. There is a provision in the Executive Order to allow new rulemaking if it is of an emergency or critical nature or would help stimulate the economy or create jobs. It was determined in early January that neither the adoption of the 2011 NEC nor any of the proposed amendments could be considered under the criteria for an exception. 

While the obvious impact is a delay in adoption of the newest electrical code, with its many safety enhancements, it also means that any amendments to the 2008 NEC will remain for another year; notably that arc fault circuit interruption protection will remain for bedroom circuits only. That amendment was targeted to be removed in favor of the requirements in the 2011 National Electrical Code, and the Chief Electrical Inspector, Mr. Ron Fuller, had indicated that he and the Department were in favor of the expansion of the AFCI protection to most 120 volt residential circuits. Now it appears that the expansion will not go into effect until July 2012. Additional information about the Washington electrical rule development status may be found, and tracked, at http://www.lni.wa.gov/TradesLicensing/Electrical/LawRulePol/RuleDev/Default.asp.

Image1Each year, Mike’s Safest States analysis rates and assigns a safety grade to each of the U.S. states based on the state’s requirements for the electrical industry. This report will be updated in April based on any new requirements or adoptions of the 2011 NEC. Click here or on the image on the left to view last year’s report. If you have any updated information that you feel would change the rankings and help us with the 2011 analysis, please let us know by posting your comment. Remember that all grades are based on state-wide adoption of rules and requirements.

 

 

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Comments
  • I am a contractor in Washington. When the 2008 NEC was adopted here, an exception was made for AFCI's to be required only for bedrooms, as per the 2005 NEC. Prior to the Governor's announcement, I asked an inspector about this. He said that insurance companies were pushing the state to conform, but they were going to wait until the 2011 NEC was adopted.

    I am concerned that the NEC has been worded to sell a product. If the Code Making Panel explained their concerns, (are we protecting the Romex inside the wall, or appliance cords?), we could find a more economical way to uses these devices.

    D Bailey  March 4 2011, 1:55 am EST
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  • It amazes me that Some states are already considering, or in the process of adopting the 2011 NEC. Here in Virginia we are still using the 2005 NEC. The State has no plans to ever adopt the 2008. I would guess the 2011 NEC could be adopted as early as April of 2012 here. Just thought some might like to know.

    Joe Mapp  March 3 2011, 3:37 pm EST
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  • Where i live in rural PA the 2008 Code apparently was not adapted until Nov. 1 2010!!! I was talkin' with the other electrician on our job [new house] about tamper resistant receps & A.F.,C.I.s' & he said no inspector I know has required these new codes only to find out it was because new code had not been adapted. crazy huh!!!

    D.I.V.  February 11 2011, 2:23 pm EST
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  • Could you please describe how the "Total of points awarded for State mandated requirements" were established in column L?

    Jim Grant  February 9 2011, 12:32 pm EST
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  • Mike Holt, although I respect your knowledge on electrical code and am a master electrician because of your help. I also currently own a struggling electrical contracting business with 20 of 22 employees laid off and for my 2 cents, I 100% agree with Washington States reasoning for delaying this.

    With the current situation in the construction industry, any additional cost at this time being forced upon and owner about to decide to build could be a deciding factor on us having a job to do or not. Thus in turn hiring employees and needing your products again.

    Lower property values in addition to increasing material cost has caused housing and commercial property already to not appraise for the total amount needed to build a building. Owners trying to finance with the standard 20% down to build a building have to add this cost out of their pocket in cash. Adding cost to a job FOR ANY REASON at this time likely can be a breaking point for a job, because the owner must cash fund any difference from the cost to build and the appraisal.

    Simple example old days: $100,000.00 Cost to build and appraisal -$20,000.00 20% down = owners out of pocket $80,000.00 Amount needed to finance

    Example currently: $100,000.00 Cost to build $80,000 Actual appraisal $16,000 20% down payment $36,000 Amount down + difference of cost and appraisal = owners out of pocket $????? Insert here any additional cost caused by red tape or code changes

    So as you can see above, numbers matter. A little delay to help us all get through this I see as an informed decision by the lawmaker in my opinion.

    FYI: I also take issue with manufactures having items written in the code that is not even on the market yet, like ARC Fault receptacles were this code cycle. This creates a market before the product is brought to shelves.

    A conservative Libertarian electrician

    Mike in AL  February 9 2011, 10:16 am EST
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  • Not sure if Washington State is still under the 2005 NEC with regards to AFCI areas but the rest of the areas in the USA that are using the 2008 should be providing AFCI protectiion basically in ALL rooms of a dwelling unit except of course the kitchen, bath, garage and unfinished basement.

    Rich Van Wert  February 9 2011, 6:23 am EST
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