[Synthesizer and drums]

(BCD Chief Building Official Richard Rogers)
This whole business of a uniform code in Oregon was really born out of Senate Bill 73 in 1973. And its inception was actually at the result of a blue ribbon panel that Governor Tom McCall put together because contractors were having a lot of trouble, especially in the Portland metro area, with going across the street and finding a completely different code in play. And it led to mass confusion in the construction community, the design community, because there was no consistency. I think there were 21 different codes adopted in Oregon at the time. So, you can imagine the frustration that they felt, again, especially in the Portland area, where you literally walk across the street and you find a whole different design criteria. What Senate Bill 73 did was create this thing called the State Building Code. And what the people that were part of that panel wanted was they wanted predictability, they wanted consistency, they wanted a place, a single one-stop shop, for dispute resolution. Part of that would be our appeals process. They wanted dedicated fees that, you know, if I'm an electrician and I pay for permit fees those would stay in my program not be used for plumbing, for example. At the national level, all of our codes are promulgated, we don't start with parchment and quill pin and write our own building codes. But, when those codes get to Oregon, and I think there's only one other state that does this, local jurisdictions cannot amend that code locally. So whatever a stair profile is in Portland, it's going to be the same in Ashland. Whatever the accessibility requirements you're going to find in Eugene you're going to find the same accessibility requirements in Pendleton. They cannot adopt the different standards anywhere in the state in any of the disciplines -- plumbing, electrical, mechanical, structural -- it is a uniform code statewide.