On Tuesday, December 15, 2020 the PA UCC Review and Advisory Council (RAC) will begin the process on taking public comments regarding the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) reports that have been submitted to the RAC. The reports were posted to the RAC website (https://www.dli.pa.gov/ucc/Pages/UCC-Review-and-Advisory-Council.aspx) prior to Wednesday, November 25, 2020 well in advance of the statutory requirements.
The three (3) public hearings are intended to, and will give the general public an opportunity to give comments on the TAC recommendations prior to the RAC taking up deliberation on the 2018 code adoption. Each of the hearing dates has been advertised in accordance with the statutory language with one being advertised in the Pennsylvania Bulletin (Harrisburg/Central) [meeting on Tuesday, December 15, 2020], the Allentown Morning Call (Eastern) [meeting on Wednesday, December 16, 2020], and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Western) [meeting on Thursday, December 17, 2020]. Each of the hearings will follow the same agenda and be run the same way. The public only needs to attend one (1) of the three (3) hearings to express their opinion.
The hearings will be conducted by Zoom starting at 10:00am prevailing time, with the virtual room being open at 9:30am to allow members and guests to get logged in and verify that their system is working. The link for the hearing has been posted to the website and mobile login information is:
To join the Zoom meeting, click on this link: https://zoom.us/j/99121809216?pwd=aDIwUXdpay8yWGpWWjZSMHZWM3ErZz09Opens In A New Window
Meeting ID: 991 2180 9216
Passcode: 170867
One tap mobile: 13017158592,99121809216#,0#,170867#
Also posted on the website is an online comment form that RAC is requesting speakers fill out and submit prior to the day of the hearing. This form will allow them to identify those who desire to speak and let them know when they are next to speak to keep the process moving smoothly. Speakers will be given three (3) minutes per TAC committee report to speak and will be notified of their time via an online timer. Written comments will also be accepted and will be weighted equally to those made orally. At the end of the hearing, a general comment period will be available for those who wish to make comments on issues not related to the TAC reports.
The three (3) public hearings while advertised in accordance with the Pennsylvania Sunshine Law will not be official RAC business meetings and thus no RAC business will be conducted on these three (3) days. The next official RAC meeting will be Thursday, January 7, 2021 where we will be approving back meeting minutes, discussing pending legislation, and starting deliberation. With respect to the public hearings, the court reporter will be producing transcripts of the three (3) hearings and we anticipate sending them to the RAC members prior to December 31, 2020 for review and use in the deliberations along with all written comments submitted.
At this time we do not know how long the hearings will last, but the RAC is committed to taking all relevant public comment offered.