You asked whether other states (1) require state-owned buildings to comply with building and fire-safety codes: (2) exempt any such buildings from code compliance; and (3) require a state agency to review building plans, issue building permits, inspect construction, or issue certificates of occupancy.

We could find no comprehensive description of state laws and procedures on this topic. Neither the National Conference of States on Building Codes and Standards or the International Codes Council, two groups active in the area of state building code law, could provide state-by-state information. Consequently, we surveyed state building officials in the Northeast about their procedures.

With the exception of Massachusetts, all of the states we surveyed (and Connecticut) require all state-owned buildings to comply with their building and fire safety codes. Massachusetts exempts only its state capitol building from this requirement.

All surveyed states require their state code compliance agencies to review building plans and issue building permits and certificates of occupancy for all state-owned buildings. All but Maine, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania require these agencies to inspect construction or provide for inspection. In New Hampshire, inspections are not mandatory, but the agency responsible for the building’s construction or

alteration may ask the Department of Public Safety’s Fire Safety Division to conduct one. In Maine and Pennsylvania, both the state code compliance agency and local code compliance offices can inspect buildings.

In contrast to these states’ procedures, Connecticut limits the authority of its code compliance agency, the State Building Inspector’s Office, over state-owned buildings. The office reviews plans and issues building permits and certificates of occupancy only for state-owned buildings that exceed specified “threshold” size or occupancy limits. For smaller buildings, the agency responsible for construction or alteration is responsible for code compliance and must certify to the state building inspector before a building can be occupied that it meets code. The building inspector is responsible for inspections.

New York has a decentralized compliance system. The agency that owns or controls a building is responsible for ensuring that it complies with the state’s codes. (This process does not apply to leased buildings whose compliance to code is enforced by local building officials. ) Each agency must designate one or more code coordinators to do this.

New York law differentiates between agencies that have construction expertise (and construction professionals on staff) and those that do not. It designates the former as “construction-permitting agencies,” makes them responsible for enforcing code compliance for all state agencies, and requires each to designate code compliance managers for this function. These agencies include the State University of New York; Environmental Conservation, Mental Health, and Mental Retardation and Development Disabilities offices; and various quasi-public agencies. The General Services Office, one of the designated agencies, acts as the permitting agency for those agencies that do not have construction-permitting authority.

Code compliance managers review their and other agencies’ requests for construction permits and issue construction permits, code compliance certificates, and certificates of occupancy. They are also responsible for providing for inspections during the construction process. They can permit the agency managing a project’s construction, a design consultant, or another party to perform the inspection. But the construction-permitting agency that issued the construction permit for a building or structure larger than 20,000 cubic feet must perform the final inspection before it can issue a code compliance certificate.

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