CONTACT YOUR SENATOR AND REPRESENTATIVE

If you know your State Representative's name, please skip the next two paragraphs and find your State Senator.

In order to determine your State Representative, you will need to know your Zip+4. If you do not know your Zip+4 (you can usually find this on some business mail that you have received), then you can click here and we'll pop-up a window for you to easily find it.

Now that you have your Zip+4, you can proceed. Click here to pull up the "Find Your Legislator" window. Enter your nine digit zip code, and hit the Search button. The next screen will show you your State Representative's name.

If you know your State Senator's name, please skip the next two paragraphs and select both your Senator & Representative from the drop-down menus.

In order to determine your State Senator, you will need to know your Zip+4. If you do not know your Zip+4 (you can usually find this on some business mail that you have received), then you can click here and we'll pop-up a window for you to easily find it.

Now that you have your Zip+4, you can proceed. Click here to pull up the "Find Your Legislator" window. Enter your nine digit zip code, and hit the Search button. The next screen will show you your State Senator's name.

Please fill in all of the fields below, as they are REQUIRED. Finally, click the "Send Email" button, and we'll send the letter, personalized by you, directly to your State Representative & Senator.

Your full name (first AND last):

Your company name:

Your street address
(all on one line please):

Your city:

Your state:

Your zip code:

Your telephone number:

Your email address:

Please check to make sure that your Representative's and Senator's name is selected above.
 

Sample Letter

February 4, 2012

The Honorable (Senator's or Representative's name will go here)
Pennsylvania House
Harrisburg, PA 17120

Dear Representative/Senator (Senator's or Representative's last name will go here):

I'm writing to respectfully ask you to support legislation that would give our consumers and businesses a temporary reprieve while changes in the 2009 Construction Codes are studied more closely.

The code changes increase costs for home buyers. But there's more at stake here than economics. It has to do with the right to choose what goes into our own homes.

Among other things, the impending code changes call for state-mandated residential sprinklers in all newly constructed single-family homes. Consider for a moment: Sprinklers and smoke alarms protect lives about equally, but state-mandated residential sprinklers would add thousands of dollars to the cost of a new home while smoke alarms add only a few hundred dollars. Why mandate one over the other, especially the more expensive option? We believe home buyers can make their own rational decision. They don't need to be forced.

Some of the drastic changes in the 2009 version of the building codes create new energy, electrical, mechanical, and structural requirements along with the mandate for sprinkler systems in new single-family homes. All told, it has been estimated these changes would add more than $13,000 to the cost of a new home. How many young Pennsylvania families would be priced out of a new home?

Like the organizations listed below, I agree that the existing 2006 building codes should be maintained without changes for three years to allow adequate time to examine fully how the code-development process can be improved to help deliver quality homes at affordable prices.

The organizations that favor a temporary rollback of the 2009 codes to the 2006 codes include:

  • The Pennsylvania Builders Association
  • The Pennsylvania Association of Realtors
  • The Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors
  • The Pennsylvania Manufactured Housing Association
  • The Modular Building Systems Association
  • The NAHB Log Home Council of Pennsylvania
  • The Pennsylvania Residential Owners Association
  • The Pennsylvania Apartment Association
  • The Pennsylvania Housing Alliance
  • The Pennsylvania Code Officials Alliance for a Common Sense Building Code

We need time to examine and think these changes through and look at all the options. This debate needs a dose of common sense. We're all in favor of safety, but we need to ask the proponents of mandated residential sprinklers in new homes why they're so against consumer choice. Many of us feel we already have enough government mandates in our lives and this is one we can do without. We expect our Legislators to fight for our best interests. Going ahead with these new codes without taking a closer look would be a slap at all of us, especially those of us who are struggling to provide homes for families in the face of unprecedented financial challenges.

I ask that you please vote in support of rolling back the 2009 codes to the 2006 version temporarily until we can find a reasonable consensus on what our codes should require. Thank you.

Sincerely,
(Your Name)
(Your Company Name)
(Your Address)
(Your City), (Your State) (Your Zip Code)
(Your Telephone Number)
(Your Email Address)