{"id":25070,"date":"2022-08-31T10:30:17","date_gmt":"2022-08-31T15:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iaeimagazine.org\/?p=25070"},"modified":"2022-08-31T10:30:17","modified_gmt":"2022-08-31T15:30:17","slug":"making-of-the-2023-nec-a-cycle-like-no-other","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iaeimagazine.org\/columns\/nfpa-code-talk\/making-of-the-2023-nec-a-cycle-like-no-other\/","title":{"rendered":"Making of the 2023 NEC: A Cycle Like No Other"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a nearly three-year process, the ink is almost ready to dry on the 2023 NFPA 70\u00ae National Electrical Code<\/em>\u00ae (NEC<\/em>)\u00ae<\/a>. This cycle of the NEC<\/em> has been like no other. The COVID-19 pandemic turned everyone\u2019s world upside down beginning in the Spring of 2020, and the NEC<\/em> was no exception. While the NFPA Standards Development Process stayed tried and true as the foundation for building the 2023 NEC<\/em>, the normal face-to-face committee meetings could not be held because of social distancing requirements and to ensure the personal safety of our committee members and NFPA staff. Knowing that we must forge ahead continuing to improve upon electrical safety, 18 code making panels (CMPs), made up of countless volunteer members, and NFPA staff moved ahead with the 2023 NEC<\/em> development by using virtual meetings. Even though the pandemic influenced how<\/em> we went about meeting to develop the NEC<\/em>, the hard work and diligence of the CMP members and NFPA staff made sure that this imperative work was not only done but done on schedule.<\/p>\n

No Slowing Down<\/h2>\n

In November 2019, shortly after the 2020 NEC<\/em> was first issued, the public input (PI) stage for the 2023 NEC<\/em> opened. Roughly six months of \u201cnormal\u201d elapsed until the pandemic reared its unwanted head. Considering this timing, that means that nearly 85 percent of the development of the 2023 NEC<\/em> was handled during the pandemic. That may lead a person to believe that COVID-19 probably slowed down the whole NEC<\/em> development process overall, but that could not be further from the truth. Every actionable area of the 2023 NEC<\/em> development process was actually an increase over the same categories during the 2020 NEC<\/em> development, those key areas being: Public Inputs (PIs), First Revisions (FRs), First Correlating Revisions (FCRs), Correlating Notes (CNs), Public Comments (PCs), Second Revisions (SRs), Second Correlating Revisions (SCRs), and Certified Amending Motions (CAMs).<\/p>\n

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Table 1.<\/strong> Copyright \u00a9 2022, National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). All rights reserved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Speaking of CAMs, there were 55 CAMs prepared on the NEC<\/em> to be heard at the Technical Meeting on June 9th<\/sup> in Boston at the 2022 NFPA Conference & Expo. Of those CAMs, 18 passed, 23 failed, and 14 were not pursued, often based on the CAM being pulled due to a related CAM heard previously not passing. To see the Technical Meeting take place and CAMs being introduced truly shines a light on the overall depth and engagement of the NFPA Standards Development Process. Passionate NFPA members debate the proposed changes to the NEC<\/em>, until it is eventually put to a vote of all members present. All members present that have been members for at least 180 days are eligible to cast their vote. Some of the votes can be extremely close. For example, CAM 70-126, which dealt with the minimum size copper-clad aluminum branch-circuit conductors, failed by an extremely narrow margin of 196 votes in favor of the CAM and 198 votes against.<\/p>\n

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Copyright \u00a9 2019, National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). This graphic represents a summary of steps in the NFPA Standards Development Process. For a full description of the Process, please see the NFPA Standards Directory. More information is available at www.nfpa.org\/process.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Still to Come<\/h2>\n

For CAMs that failed to get the necessary passing votes, the Technical Meeting doesn\u2019t necessarily have to be the end of the road. Per section 1.6.2(a) of the Regulations Governing the Development of NFPA Standards<\/em><\/a>, anyone who is dissatisfied with the results of the CAM can submit an appeal to the NFPA Standards Council, as long as it is submitted within 20 days of the closing of the Technical Meeting. When the Standards Council meets August 10-12 in Quincy, MA, they will hear any submitted appeals. Once those decisions are rendered, the Standards Council will consider and make a final determination on the issuance of the 2023 edition of the NEC<\/em>.<\/p>\n

When you first pick up your copy of the 2023 NEC<\/em>, or view it online at NFPA LiNK™<\/a>, it may look a little different at first glance. Many changes were made around usability and alignment with the 2020 National Electrical Code\u00ae Style Manual<\/a>, which was amended in December 2020. The NEC<\/em> Style Manual provides the editorial and administrative requirements for both the NEC<\/em> as well as NFPA 70E\u00ae Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace<\/em>\u00ae. Stated clearly within the purpose, the NEC<\/em> Style Manual is intended to be used as a practical working tool to assist in making the documents as clear, usable, and unambiguous as possible<\/em>. Because the most recent NEC<\/em> Style Manual was issued after the release of the 2020 NEC<\/em>, this cycle presented the first opportunity to align the NEC<\/em> with the updated requirements. A significant pending change to the 2023 NEC<\/em> driven by the NEC<\/em> Style Manual is moving all definitions from the individual NEC<\/em> Articles into Article 100 Definitions<\/em>. Many of the \u201cInformational Notes\u201d throughout the NEC<\/em> have also been modified to consistently align with the NEC<\/em> Style Manual requirements.<\/p>\n

No code cycle ever passes by without proposed changes being made around ground-fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs) and arc-fault circuit interrupters (AFCIs), and this cycle included several. But the proposed changes to the 2023 NEC<\/em> also delve into newer technologies and items we haven\u2019t seen addressed before within the NEC<\/em>. Some examples include:<\/p>\n