WASHINGTON – The American Wood Council (AWC), American Forest Foundation (AFF), Binational Softwood Lumber Council (BSLC) and Southeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association (SLMA) today announced their strong support for the “Timber Innovation Act,” introduced by Reps. Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA), Derek Kilmer (D-WA) and Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-WA).

WASHINGTON – The American Wood Council (AWC) President and CEO Robert Glowinski and American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) President and CEO Donna Harman issued the following statements following today’s U.S. House of Representatives vote on the Ozone Standards Implementation Act (H.R. 4775), which would prevent rushed implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2015 national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) ozone standard. The bill was led by Reps. Pete Olson (R-TX), Bill Flores (R-TX), Steve Scalise (R-LA), Bob Latta (R-OH), Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Henry Cuellar (D-TX).

WASHINGTON – The American Wood Council (AWC) is participating in today’s White House Conference on Resilient Building Codes where the Administration, and private and public collaborators will discuss the role of building codes in furthering community resilience, and the economic benefits of resilient design. The event is also hosted by the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) and coincides with National Building Safety Month.

WASHINGTON – The American Wood Council (AWC), American Forest Foundation (AFF), Binational Softwood Lumber Council (BSLC) and Southeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association (SLMA) today announced their strong support for the “Timber Innovation Act,” introduced by lead sponsors Sens. Debbie Stabenow (MI) and Mike Crapo (ID). Sens. Amy Klobuchar (MN), Steve Daines (MT) and Maria Cantrell (WA) are also original co-sponsors. The bill would:

LEESBURG, VA. – As a major sponsor of the International Code Council’s (ICC) Building Safety Month, the American Wood Council (AWC) will host a complementary four-part Disaster Resistant Wood Frame Construction webinar series in May. AWC is also sponsoring the third week of ICC’s Building Safety Month, “Learn from the Past, Build for Tomorrow.”

WASHINGTON – American Wood Council (AWC) Vice President, Government Affairs Sarah Dodge has issued the following statement regarding today’s passage of the “Clean Distributed Energy Grid Integration Act” (S. 2012) in the U.S. Senate. The bill included an amendment led by Sen. Susan Collins (ME) which would require the Secretaries of Energy and Agriculture and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to jointly ensure that federal policy relating to forest bioenergy: (1) is consistent across all departments and agencies; and (2) recognizes the full benefits of the use of forest biomass for energy, conservation and responsible forest management.

LEESBURG, VA. – The American Wood Council (AWC) has released a revised 2015 Manual for Engineered Wood Construction, which contains design information for structural lumber, glued laminated timber, structural-use panels, cross-laminated timber, poles and piles, I-joists, and structural composite lumber.

WASHINGTON – American Wood Council (AWC) President and CEO Robert Glowinski issued the following statement following Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s signing of the education omnibus bill, HB 7029, into law. The bill allows Florida school districts to modify educational facilities requirements in the state building code upon a 2/3 vote of the school board. These modifications could include allowing the use of wood for interior non-load bearing walls in public educational facilities, which is currently prohibited.