Building Code Adoption Tracking Glossary

Building Code Adoption Tracking, also referred to as Building Code Adoption Tracking System (BCATS). BCAT information is based on ISO Building Code Effectiveness Grading Schedule (BCEGS) data and supplemented by FEMA Building Science Branch research. BCEGS is a program administered by ISO which evaluates building departments in jurisdictions across the country pertaining to their building code adoption and enforcement. There are five bureau states (i.e., HI, ID, LA, MS, WA) which do not participate in the BCEGS.

Building Code Effectiveness Grading Schedule, a program administered by ISO which evaluates building departments in jurisdictions across the country pertaining to their building code adoption and enforcement and grades them on a scale of 1 to 10. There are five bureau states (i.e., HI, ID, LA, MS, WA) which do not participate in the BCEGS.

A jurisdiction is damaging wind resistant if it has high damaging wind risk and the 2018 or later IBC and IRC apply within the jurisdiction without weakening of any of the wind provisions.

Emergency Management Assistance Compact, an interstate mutual aid agreement which all 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have passed. The Compact contains 13 articles establishing a mutual aid system with, among other elements, provisions for jurisdictions to share their resources with one another during emergencies, give and receive reimbursement for shared resources, and give and receive liability protection for their officers and employees rendering aid in another jurisdiction.

A jurisdiction is flood resistant if it has high flood risk, it participates in the National Flood Insurance Program in good standing, and the 2018 or later IBC and IRC apply in the jurisdiction without weakening of any of the flood provisions.

A jurisdiction has hazard risk, or one-or-more hazards risk, or disaster risk, if it has high flood, hurricane, tornado, damaging wind, or seismic risk.

A jurisdiction is hazard resistant if it has high one-or-more hazards risk and the 2018 or later IBC and IRC apply within the jurisdiction without the weakening of any provisions related to any of the hazards for which the jurisdiction has high risk, and the jurisdiction participates in the NFIP in good standing if it has high flood risk.

This refers to the 2018 or later IBC and IRC, without any amendments that weaken hazard-resistant provisions related to any hazards which for which the jurisdiction has high risk.

A jurisdiction has high damaging wind risk if it is located outside of the hurricane prone region and in an area where the basic design wind speed, V, is 90 mph or greater for Risk Category II buildings for a 3-second gust measured at 33 feet in Exposure C, as shown in 2021 IBC Figure 1609.3(1).

A jurisdiction has high flood risk if it selected the natural hazards boxes for Floods, Riverine or Coastal conditions on the BCEGS questionnaire, or if it has been mapped in the NFIP as having a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA).

A jurisdiction has high hurricane wind risk if it is within the hurricane prone region defined in the 2021 IBC, Ch. 2, as: (1) the U.S. Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico coasts where the basic wind speed, V, for Risk Category II buildings is greater than 115 mph; and (2) Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, Virgin Islands and American Samoa, and in the 2021 IRC, Ch. 2, as: areas vulnerable to hurricanes, defined as the U.S. Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico coasts where the ultimate design wind speed, Vult, is greater than 115 mph, and Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.

A jurisdiction has high seismic risk if it is located in a county which is categorized in the 2021 IBC for Risk Category II as having a design spectral response acceleration at short-periods (SDS) greater than or equal to 0.5g based on the most conservative of site class C or D, or as having a design spectral response acceleration at long-periods (SD1),  greater than or equal to 0.2g, or was mapped in the 2021 IRC as having high or very high earthquake risk (Seismic Design Category D0, D1, D2, and E for residential buildings).

A jurisdiction has high tornado risk if it is located in an area where the shelter design wind speed for tornadoes is 250 MPH in accordance with Figure 304.2(1) of ICC 500®.

Defined in the 2021IBC as:

• The U.S. Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico coasts where the basic design wind speed, V, for Risk Category II buildings is greater than 115 mph (51.4m/s);
• Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.

A jurisdiction is hurricane wind resistant if it has high hurricane wind risk and the 2018 or later IBC and IRC apply within the jurisdiction without weakening of any of the hurricane wind provisions.