Voting at the Group B Public Comment Hearings.

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The Public Comment Hearings in Kansas City, Mo., are the first step in the process to determine the Final Action on 2016 Group B code changes — Public Comment Hearing (PCH) voting followed by the Online Governmental Consensus Vote (OGCV) utilizing cdpACCESS. The following is a summary of the voting procedures published on page iv of the posted Public Comment Agenda (PCA), specifically noting how the final action will be determined. Be sure to review the PCA for a complete description of the process. The first step is the voting that will occur at the Public Comment Hearings. This process is regulated by Section 7.5.8 of CP 28 Code Development (see page xxviii in the PCA). An electronic voting system will not be utilized. The action at the PCH will be determined by either a show of hands or a standing count as determined by the Moderator, as it has been done in the past when electronic voting devices were not used. In accordance with Section 10.1 of CP 28, the vote counts at the Public Comment Hearings will not be combined with the online ballot votes during the OGCV as stipulated in Section 7.5.8.10. The Consent Agenda will be voted with a motion to ratify the action taken at the Committee Action Hearings. This will be the Final Action on those code changes and they will not be considered in the Online Governmental Consensus Vote (Section 7.5.4). The second step in the final action process is the Online Governmental Consensus Vote. This is a process which is built into cdpACCESS and is regulated by Section 8.0 of CP 28. It is anticipated that the ballot period will start approximately two weeks after the Public Comment Hearings and will be open for two weeks. As noted in Section 8.1, the results of the PCH set the agenda and ballot options for the OGCV. For example, if the action taken at the PCH is AMPC 1, 3, 7 (Approved as Modified by Public Comments 1,3 and 7) then the ballot will be structured to allow eligible voters to vote for either AMPC 1,3, 7 or Disapproval in accordance with the table in Section 8.1. The voting majority required for AMPC 1, 3, 7 at the PCH was a 2/3 majority which is the same majority that applies to the OGCV. Since there will not be electronic voting at the PCH or corresponding vote counts recorded in the system, the vote tally from the PCH will not be combined with the vote tally from the OGCV to determine the Final Action. The vote tally from only the votes cast on the OGCV will determine the Final Action on the code changes. Since your vote at the PCH will not be transferred to the OGCV, eligible voters participating at the PCH are strongly encouraged to vote on the OGCV in order to have your vote considered in the Final Action determination. As in the past, voters will have access to the hearing video from both the Public Comment and Committee Action Hearings. Non-eligible voters will also be able to log-in and view the OGCV ballot, but will not be permitted to vote. If you have any questions, be sure to contact Mike Pfeiffer at mpfeiffer@iccsafe.org.