Please forgive me I am new to this but it seems your on one of these code input committees, don't take this the wrong way but do they really take a proposal from your average electrician does that ever get thru?
Even if a working electrician with a family spends unpaid hours to research and draft a decent proposal, to yeah say bring some stuff back to the 05' code,
I imagine this stuff being sorted out long in advance over email with inspector associations, union bosses, UL, corporate lobbyists or industry reps as they are called then the votes are sealed over 18 holes drinks and dinner at some exclusive golf club the day before the voting.
I am not on any Code Making Panel and never have been. I am a retired electrician. I have been submitting changes since the 1984 cycle and have had 30-40 of my changes become part of the code. Every Public Input that is submitted is reviewed and acted on and every action requires a panel statement that tells you why the panel took the action that they did.
There is no advance work...the Code Making Panels do not even see the Public Inputs until after the closing date.
Some people and groups do work together to submit Public Inputs.
The first part of the process is that the Public Inputs are reviewed by a task group of CMP members. That task group works up a recommendation for the Public Input...Typically "resolve" (reject), "accept" (where the Public Input is accepted word for word) or "reject but see" where the PI is accepted but not exactly as worded. The task groups are Zoom or Teams meetings and not in person. Once or twice a week over a number of weeks, and typically one to two hours. You can sit in on these meeting with a request to NFPA, but you can only watch and listen. In some cases with the permission of the task group chair you would be permitted to speak.
At the actual Code Make Panel Meeting, the task group chairs present their recommendations and the complete panel discusses and votes on the PI. These meetings are in person and are open to the public, but they are not online. They are much more formal and public participation in the actual panel meeting is very limited.
The first draft panel meetings are Sept 22, through Oct 3, 2027. Each of the 18 panels is assigned a number of days to process their public inputs based on how many inputs need to be processed .The result of that vote becomes what you will see in the First Draft Report that will be published June 10th of 2027. The First Draft Report will be open for public comment until July 29, 2027. The Second Draft Report will be published March 17, 2028.
There are some panel members who represent organizations such as NEMA and other that have directed votes..that is the organization they represent specifies how they will vote.
Sure there are discussions between the panel members at dinner and in the bars after their panel session has closed, pretty much like any other business meeting.
