On March 21, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) published two technical guidance documents on Act 162; "Riparian Buffer or Riparian Forest Buffer Equivalency Demonstration" and "Riparian Buffer or Riparian Forest Buffer Offsetting". These interim final policy guidelines outline the Department's equivalency demonstration criteria and buffer replacement criteria for offsetting as required by Act 162. 

PBA's Chapter 102 Stormwater Special Committee has identified several significant issues with DEP's proposed guidance and is currently working on substantial comments relating to both technical documents. DEP is accepting comments on these policy documents until May 20. 

The UCC Review and Advisory Council (RAC) continues to review amendments to the 2012 International Code Council set of codes and is scheduled to vote for inclusion of specific code previsions on May 19 and 20. The RAC report will detail the RAC's recommended 2015 ICC code change adoptions and must be submitted to the Department of Labor and Industry by May 29. In March, PBA submitted 35 code change recommendations to the RAC, including 30 that recommended adoption of specific 2015 code provisions. For further information on the RAC public hearings and meetings, public comments, the changes made by the ICC to the 2012 code, and the RAC's review process, click here. To adopt any code revision, 13 of 19 RAC members must vote to include that specific revision in the report.