Beginning this fall, the Sierra Club Legislative Committee (LegCom) locally has turned its attention to the Kansas City, MO building codes process. Our goal is to ensure that this year’s revisions includes the unmodified and latest iteration of the International Energy Conservation Code. The IECC is written by codes officials and builders and is voted on in committees and by all international codes council members. The resulting IECC document comes out of a collaborative process.

There are important energy efficiency gains that can be made by adopting the IECC without modifications. This will have long-term benefits for the goal of reducing the Kansas City community’s carbon footprint. There are additional beneficial impacts from adoption of the latest IECC in terms of making homes more affordable. Homeowners save more with lower utility bills than they spend on the increased cost of the code in less than a year. 
Furthermore, the reduction in moisture and pollutants will help prevent health problems associated with poor indoor air quality. 


In this effort, members of the Legislative Committee have had discussions with city officials and community leaders. This campaign fits within the framework statement that is guiding the work of the LegCom: "The purpose of the 2019 THB Legislative Committee is to get the City of Kansas City, Missouri, to take the necessary decisive, political steps, to enable meaningful community and regional responses to the climate crisis and to coordinate with Missouri Chapter of Sierra Club on state legislative issues that affect local climate change efforts."  

We are looking for more individuals to take part in this campaign on the KCMO building codes. Any level of expertise or knowledge is welcome. Please contact Don Wallace 123dhwwallace@gmail.com for information on the next activities of this campaign by the THB LegCom.