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Fall 2026 Registration Closes August 28th, 2026

Year 4 | CBO BO 401: American Governance: Fall Quarter – Bank

Prerequisites: COAP Years 1 – 3, or Building Officials, or Acting Building Officials, or Building Code Administrators with a current CBO certification

BUILDING OFFICIAL 401

Minimum: 100 hours per quarter
Instructor: Ray Cockerham,

CBO BO 401: American Governance: Fall Quarter

This course is intended to provide future and present building officials with a detailed overview of the complex governmental and legal environment surrounding building safety regulations. Governmental structures and law making at the federal, state and local level are examined as well as the public process, public access to information, limitations on authority and responsibility, managing liability, and building department budgeting and finance.

Required Material* It is the student’s responsibility to have the following book(s) before the first day of class:

Estimated A Budgeting Guide for Local Government – $90.00 Legal Aspects of Code Administration – $54.00
Building Department Administration – $143.00

Tuition for each quarter must be paid in full before the start of class each quarter.

$450.00

Admin Fee: $56.00

Testimonials

The course was very thorough in guiding me through the zoning code, administration and history of WA content. Giving me the navigation experience and deeper understanding of their content. I feel that I have gained a good base of understanding of what was covered and shown how to use the tools available to me.
I enjoyed the class and the reading materials specifically the history of Washington state and its processes of forming the government and reasoning behind the many decisions that have led us to the position we are in today. The instructor was easy to talk with and reached back out regularly. I appreciate the experience.
I am an individual already living with a permit tech II as a job title. It’s every day. While my job doesn't entail planning to the extent this class went into, I want to say thank you. This class made me think, grow and learn. Which is all you can hope for in any class.
The instructor was supportive, responsive, and very clear in expectations, which made the online format smooth and low stress. The coursework was well organized, and the weekly structure worked great for balancing class with full-time work. Overall, the class was a solid start to the COAP program, and I appreciate how relevant it was to local government roles like mine.
This was a great class and I learned lots. It never felt too overwhelming and the assignments seemed to push me more in growing my knowledge.
I really enjoyed everything I learned. A lot of the lessons served as great reminders and offered practical information that can be applied not just in this field, but in any profession, and even in everyday life. Topics like professionalism, working with people, effective email communication, and strong listening skills are valuable no matter what you do.
I feel the information this class provides is very essential to understanding and being capable of doing this job and assisting residents and contractors with any needs they may have
I enjoyed learning about all aspects of the building department and how it all related to the role of a permit technician.
I appreciated how thorough the materials were. Especially for the customer service skills element. Which is incredibly important for the permit technician/code official role and greatly supports the intent of the course. The discussion topics were presented in a way that was thought provoking and provided engagement with other students.
In all, this is a valuable course, and I have learned a lot. I am also glad that the workload is not overwhelming.