Pa. judge won't reverse changes to building codes

Commonwealth Court Judge Johnny Butler said in a Wednesday order that the petition by the Pennsylvania Builders Association and private developers does nothing to address the underlying issue they are citing.

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A state judge will not grant an injunction stopping new changes to Pennsylvania's residential and commercial building codes.

Commonwealth Court Judge Johnny Butler said in a Wednesday order that the petition by the Pennsylvania Builders Association and private developers does nothing to address the underlying issue they are citing.

The builders' January lawsuit is still standing. It says changes written by an outside code commission and adopted Dec. 31 by the state is an unconstitutional delegation of lawmaking authority.

It also says the recent updates to the codes will increase the cost of construction and hurt homebuyers.

But Butler says the 2006 codes to which the home builders and developers want to return were also produced by the same process that they say is unconstitutional.

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