Ch. 647

LAWS OF MARYLAND

Rules, the Board of Barber Examiners, the State Board of
Examining Engineers, the Board of Examining Moving Picture
Machine Operators, the Board of Electrical Examiners and
Supervisors, the State Board of [Commissioners of Practical]
Plumbing, the Maryland Architectural Registration Board, the
State Board of Cosmetologists, the Board of Registration for
Professional Engineers, the Board of Registration for
Professional Land Surveyors, the Maryland State Board of Public
Accountancy, the Board of Inspection of Horse Riding Stables, the
Board of Examiners for Maryland Pilots, the Division of Labor and
Industry, the Office of Commissioner of Labor and Industry, the
Advisory Council on Prevailing Wage Rates, the Advisory Committee
on the Wage and Hour Law, the Occupational Health and Safety
Advisory Board, the Employment Agency Advisory Board, the
Maryland Board of Examiners of Landscape Architects, the State
Board of Registration for Foresters, and such other agencies,
boards, commissions, councils, offices, or units of government as
may hereafter pursuant to law be declared to be part of the
Department of Licensing and Regulation.

Article 41B - Department of Housing and
Community Development

6-101.

(a)   The General Assembly of Maryland finds that the
potential benefits of new materials and techniques for building
construction are not readily available to Maryland, in part
because existing building codes are so written as to preclude
their use. However, modification of such regulations, where they
exist, cannot be readily made because the techniques and skills
needed to utilize different types of building codes are beyond
the background of some of the existing officials. They cannot
reasonably be expected to enforce significantly modified
regulations without additional training. Moreover, several
subdivisions within the State of Maryland have no building codes
of any type to protect its citizens against the intrusion of
unsafe, unsound or unsanitary buildings to their communities.
This measure of protection should be provided to such
communities. Therefore, the Department is hereby authorized to
prepare and issue a Model Performance Code for building
construction in the State of Maryland.

(b)  (1) The Model Performance Code which the Department is
authorized to issue, shall cover such elements as plumbing,
structure, electrical systems and other elements appropriate to
assure safe and sound construction. The Model Code shall also
include elements which promote the efficient utilization of
energy resources. The Model Code shall be framed in terms of the
purposes for which building codes are drawn rather than the
specifications of materials and methods required to achieve the
goals.

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