White Paper #2

	White Paper #2 November 15, 2002
Proposal:	To improve the Oklahoma Architectural Act; Provide Oklahoma citizens and businesses with a uniform standard for the protection of public health, safety and welfare as it relates to the built environment; Raise that standard to a level that matches the laws in adjacent states. This is one of several White Papers to generally explain the need and proposals to be presented to the Oklahoma Legislature's 2003 session.
Comparison:	When contemplating new Oklahoma legislation or changes to existing laws it is highly informative to check the status of similar laws in adjacent states. Kansas, Arkansas, Texas and Colorado all provide comparable, mid-western states that have similar climates for business and citizen concerns. Whenever changes to this section of the Oklahoma Architectural Act's 1947 language have been proposed in the past, one of the first concerns is how those planned changes would affect homebuilders in the Oklahoma residential construction markets. Simply put, the proposed changes will leave home ownership, construction and choices to the individual home owner and contractor. This standard is present today in Oklahoma and in all four referenced states. This standard will remain unchanged. Table 1 shows various types of construction and lists whether or not it falls under the jurisdiction of the referenced state's Architectural Act. As Table 1 shows, the existing residential standards would remain unchanged even after the proposed legislation is enacted.

TABLE 1 Building type falls under Architectural Act's jurisdiction?	Current OK Law	Kansas	Arkansas	Texas	Colorado	OK Law After Changes
1. Single Family Home	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO
2. Duplex Residence	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO
3. Agricultural Building	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO

Public Health, Safety & Welfare:

All states have enacted professional licensing statutes for architects in the interest of protecting public health, safety and welfare concerns of the general public. Each state defines such public health, safety and welfare concerns at a different level. Currently, these definitions vary dramatically.

In some cities the interest of public health, safety and welfare has been set to require even the design and construction of single family homes to fall under the jurisdiction of that state's architectural laws. The other extreme is the status of Oklahoma's current licensing law under which nearly 90% of recent construction in the state is legally exempted from falling under the jurisdiction of the current Oklahoma Architectural Act.

Issues:

Public health, safety and welfare is usually first referenced in the construction industry to the standards of building codes. As important as that issue is, the public health, safety and welfare of Oklahoma citizens also includes the following issues: municipal zoning, municipal ordinances; ADAAG and ADA requirements; fire protection and building sprinkler requirements; mold, mildew, lead abatement, asbestos issues; ergonomics; color; electrical, mechanical and structural systems; "green construction"; state and federal bidding requirements; etc. - to name a few.

Architects are the only profession educated, trained and tested to handle these issues.

Adjacent States Sampling:

With those issues of concern in all states licensing architects, a sampling of typical buildings in those states as shown below in Table 2 indicates where other states have drawn the line at protecting the public health, safety and welfare of their citizens. The table also shows that Oklahoma is currently unique in the wide variety of buildings that do not now fall under the jurisdiction of the state's Architectural Act.

TABLE 2	Current OK Law	Kansas	Arkansas	Texas	Colorado	OK Law After Changes
1. Population, 1997 Est.	3,317,000	2,595,000	2,523,000	19,439,000	3,893,000	3,317,000
2. State Area, Sq. Miles	69,956	82,277	53,187	266,807	104,247	69,956
3. Population Density, Pop. Per Square Mile	47.41	31.53	47.43	72.85	37.34	47.41

4. 1 Story Office Building	NO	YES	YES	YES	YES (c)	YES
5. Multifamily Dwellings Larger Than 4-plex	NO	YES	YES	YES (b)	YES	NO (d)
6. 2 Story Shopping Mall	NO	YES	YES (a)	YES	YES	YES
7. 1 Story Motel	NO	YES	YES (a)	YES	YES	YES
8. 1 Story Commercial Bldg. Over 1,000 SF	NO	YES	YES (a)	YES	YES	NO (e)
9. Institutional residential facilities	NO	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES

(a) Statute references $100,000 limit which equates to approximately 1,000 SF at today's construction costs of nearly $100/SF.

(b) Statute allows for a privately-owned multifamily dwelling that does not exceed a height of two (2) stories and does not exceed sixteen (16) units per building to be exempted.

(c) Statute allows for offices under an occupancy of 10 persons to be exempt. That size equates to approximately 1,000 SF.

(d) Revised statute would state that multifamily buildings under 16 units would still be exempt.

(e) Statute would state that commercial buildings under 5,000 SF would be exempt.

Bill Format:

Another central issue in the proposed revision bill would make changes to the Oklahoma Architectural Act language that would make the law's applicability more readily understood, as is the case in the wording of the law in adjacent states. The State Fire Marshal's office and numerous city building inspectors from around the state have requested a much more straight forward legal statement of what buildings fall under the jurisdiction of the Oklahoma Architectural Act.

The current proposal for changes to this Act are intended to make both the definitions, exemptions and organization of the law similar to the laws found in adjacent states. Businesses, citizens and out-of-state travelers need and want to know that whether they purchase a structure, construct a building or stay in a motel anywhere in Oklahoma that their public health, safety and welfare concerns have been addressed by the state in the same manner as they would find in Joplin, Wichita or Arlington.

Information:

Other topics dealing with the proposed changes to the Architectural Act are addressed in additional issues of this series of eight White Papers. For more information on any topic in this series of papers, please call the Eastern Oklahoma Chapter/AIA at 981/583-0013 or the Central Oklahoma Chapter/AIA at 405/948-7174.