Court Opinion

ID: 9774162
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 18:10:30.868113+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:02.672654
License: Public Domain

CONCURRING OPINION BY
Judge LEAVITT.
I write separately to address an issue on which the Pennsylvania Builders Association focused its attention at oral argument, namely the contention that the legislature’s delegation of rule-making authority to the Department of Labor and Industry was unconstitutional because it was limited in scope. Specifically, the Association believes that for the rule-making authority of the Department of Labor and Industry, Review and Advisory Council to be valid, it should have included power to amend each new proposal of the International Code Council (ICC), in addition to the power to reject or accept each new proposal.
The ICC is a private organization that studies and develops standards for residential, commercial and military buildings. One of the ICC’s products was the BOCA National Building Code, which created standards for residential and commercial construction. The General Assembly adopted the ICC’s BOCA National Building Code as its own when it enacted Section 301(a) of the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act (Act), Act of November 10, 1999, P.L. 491, as amended, 85 P.S. § 7210.301(a) (directing the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry to promulgate as a regulation the 1999 BOCA National Building Code, 14th edition, as the Uniform Construction Code). All parties agree that when the legislature adopts a private organization’s standards as its own, it does not offend Article II, Section *227I, of the Pennsylvania Constitution,1 which prohibits delegation of legislative authority to a private body. Pennsylvania Chiropractic Federation v. Foster, 136 Pa.Cmwlth. 465, 583 A.2d 844, 849 (1990) (non-delegation doctrine not offended where legislature adopts fact finding of private entity). Pursuant to Section 301(a) of the Act, the Department of Labor and Industry promulgated the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code, 34 Pa.Code §§ 401.1-406.42.
The ICC continues to revise and develop new standards for residential and commercial buildings. The legislature cannot adopt, sight unseen, the future work product of the ICC without offending Article II, Section 1. Accordingly, it gave the Department of Labor and Industry the authority to accept or reject the ICC’s revisions with respect to the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code. The parties agree that the legislature made the basic policy choices to guide the Department’s decision to accept or reject new work of the ICC and, where accepted, to add the ICC revision to the Uniform Construction Code. The Association’s contention is that the legislature did not delegate enough legislative authority to the Department because it cannot modify ICC revisions.
The General Assembly’s decision to limit the Department’s authority was purposeful. If the legislature had conferred the authority upon the Department to rewrite new proposals of the ICC, then the Department would be free to completely rewrite Pennsylvania’s Uniform Construction Code. By restricting the ability of the Department to change the Uniform Construction Code, the legislature advanced its goal of minimizing changes to the BOCA National Building Code, which it had adopted for Pennsylvania in Section 301(a) of the Act, 35 P.S. § 7210.301(a).
The Association cites no authority for its contention that for a delegation of rule-making authority to an agency to be valid, all the powers of the legislature must be delegated to the agency. The Association’s argument is interesting, but not convincing. It is a legislative determination whether, or how much, rule-making authority to give an agency charged with enforcement of a statute.

. It states:
The legislative power of this Commonwealth shall be vested in a General Assembly, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.
Pa. Const, art. II, § 1. This provision is the source of the “non-delegation doctrine,” which forbids the General Assembly from delegating legislative authority to, inter alia, private persons. See, e.g., Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania, Inc. v. Department of Insurance, 585 Pa. 630, 634, 889 A.2d 550, 553 (2005).