Approved by the Infrastructure and Research Policy Committee on December 8, 2025
Approved by Public Policy and Practice Committee on January 28, 2026
Adopted by the Board of Direction on July 21, 2026

Policy

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) supports the development, adoption, funding, and enforcement of a modern national model building code for new and existing buildings as a key method of strengthening disaster resilience and protecting public health, safety, welfare, and economic vitality. ASCE further encourages a coordinated national approach to the extent possible to ensure uniform and equitable implementation of building codes. Specific attention should be given to the following:

  • Support the adoption of a modern, effective national model building code at the state and local levels.
  • Encourage federal incentives programs and legislation that increase state and local adoption, enforcement of up-to-date modern building codes.
  • Improve implementation and enforcement by increasing training and resources for code officials, inspectors, design professionals, and contractors. 
  • Advance and participate in the creation and or improvement of model building codes. 
  • Support funding for research that is necessary for the development of model building codes, such as functional recovery standards.
  • Promote programs and incentives that facilitate the retrofit of existing structures to meet modern safety and resilience standards, especially for critical facilities and buildings.
  • Incorporate innovative construction techniques into existing codes.

Issue

Responsible design and construction are essential to improve the quality of life, assure safety and durability, and to reduce vulnerability to future hazards. The purpose of a building code is to establish minimum requirements necessary to protect and improve public health, safety, and welfare in the built environment. Model building codes address concerns related to, structural collapse, general deterioration, and extreme loads related to man-made and natural hazards. They also aim to conserve natural resources, reduce ownership and operating costs, and preserve the environment by establishing minimum building standards. Safe and sustainable buildings are achieved through code-based design and construction practices in concert with a code administration program. National model codes serve to reduce construction costs by establishing uniformity in the construction industry as well as minimizing disaster recovery and reconstruction costs. This uniformity permits building and material manufacturers to do business on a larger scale statewide, regionally, nationally, or internationally. This larger scale, in turn, creates cost savings for the end consumer. Codes also help protect real estate investments, both commercial and non-commercial, by providing a minimum level of engineering design and construction quality thereby reducing variability in the built environment. 

State and local legislative bodies are not obligated to adopt or enforce model building codes and may write their own code or portions of a code. A model code does not have legal standing until it is adopted as law by a legislative body (state legislature, county board, city council, etc.). When adopted as law, owners of property within the boundaries of the adopting jurisdiction (Authority Having Jurisdiction, AHJ) are required to comply with the referenced codes. Because codes are updated regularly, existing structures are traditionally only required to meet the code that was enforced when the property was built unless the building undergoes reconstruction, rehabilitation, or alteration, or if the occupancy of the existing building changes. In that case, provisions are included in the code to require partial to full compliance depending on the extent of construction.

Rationale

Model building codes are developed by experienced volunteer professionals working together under a multi-step, consensus-based process. Most professional engineering organizations maintain code development committees that initiate code provisions based on the practice in their technical areas and are often augmented by research. Topics for code provisions are often introduced in case study reports or research papers. In time, many of these provisions are gathered and published as design guidelines. Eventually the guidelines are transformed into standards and incorporated into the model code. ASCE, as a premier American National Standards Institute (ANSI)-approved standards organization, develops and maintains many of the standards referenced or incorporated in the model codes. Through a thoughtful and extensive process, ASCE assures that each standard represents a broad consensus of the related professional community. The standards developed by the U.S. voluntary consensus standards system empower our nation domestically and globally. For many years, local, state, and federal governments have maintained a strong and effective reliance on the non-government sector for development and maintenance of the standards at use across all sectors of our economy. 

There is a high level of interdependence between the viability of local communities and the national economy. The traditional assumption that local jurisdictions could determine the level of safety and quality to which they would build has yielded to the recognition that uniform national standards are needed to ensure that the economic impact to the nation is controlled. These national standards are best delivered in a modern, effective national model code that local jurisdictions should be encouraged to adopt and enforce.

ASCE Policy Statement 525
First Approved in 2008