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An Act To Adopt Tiny House Standards in the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  10 MRSA §9721, sub-§5  is enacted to read:
 
5.  Tiny house.     "Tiny house" means a dwelling that is less than 400 square feet in floor area, excluding the area of any floor level located above the main floor.
Sec. 2. 10 MRSA §9722, sub-§6, ¶J, as amended by PL 2011, c. 365, §1 and c. 408, §2, is further amended to read:
 
J. In the adoption and amendment of the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code, ensure that nontraditional or experimental construction, including but not limited to straw bale and earth berm construction and tiny house construction, is permissible under the code;
Sec. 3. Standards for tiny house construction. No later than January 1, 2018, the Technical Building Codes and Standards Board shall adopt standards for tiny house construction consistent with the Tiny House Appendix to the International Residential Code, RB 168-16, Appendix V, as approved by the International Code Council in December 2016. The adoption of standards pursuant to this section is considered routine technical rulemaking under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.
 
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Technical Building Codes and Standards Board to ensure that tiny house construction is permissible under the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code. The bill also requires that the Technical Building Codes and Standards Board adopt standards for tiny house construction consistent with the Tiny House Appendix to the International Residential Code, as approved by the International Code Council in December 2016.