The Florida Senate

The Florida Fire Prevention Code and the Life Safety Code adopted by the State Fire Marshal, which shall operate in conjunction with the Florida Building Code, shall be deemed adopted by each municipality, county, and special district with firesafety responsibilities. The minimum firesafety codes shall not apply to buildings and structures subject to the uniform firesafety standards under s. 633.022 and buildings and structures subject to the minimum firesafety standards adopted pursuant to s. 394.879.

Pursuant to subsection (1), each municipality, county, and special district with firesafety responsibilities shall enforce the Florida Fire Prevention Code and the Life Safety Code as the minimum firesafety code required by this section.

The most current edition of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 101, Life Safety Code, adopted by the State Fire Marshal, shall be deemed to be adopted by each municipality, county, and special district with firesafety responsibilities as part of the minimum firesafety code.

Such codes shall be minimum codes and a municipality, county, or special district with firesafety responsibilities may adopt more stringent firesafety standards, subject to the requirements of this subsection. Such county, municipality, or special district may establish alternative requirements to those requirements which are required under the minimum firesafety standards on a case-by-case basis, in order to meet special situations arising from historic, geographic, or unusual conditions, if the alternative requirements result in a level of protection to life, safety, or property equal to or greater than the applicable minimum firesafety standards. For the purpose of this subsection, the term “historic” means that the building or structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places of the United States Department of the Interior.

This subsection gives local government the authority to establish firesafety codes that exceed the minimum firesafety codes and standards adopted by the State Fire Marshal. The Legislature intends that local government give proper public notice and hold public hearings before adopting more stringent firesafety codes and standards. A substantially affected person may appeal, to the department, the local government’s resolution of the challenge, and the department shall determine if the amendment complies with this section. Actions of the department are subject to judicial review pursuant to s. 120.68. The department shall consider reports of the Florida Building Commission, pursuant to part IV of chapter 553, when evaluating building code enforcement.

The new building or structure provisions enumerated within the firesafety code adopted pursuant to this section shall apply only to buildings or structures for which the building permit is issued on or after the effective date of this act. Subject to the provisions of subsection (6), the existing building or structure provisions enumerated within the firesafety code adopted pursuant to this section shall apply to buildings or structures for which the building permit was issued or the building or structure was constructed prior to the effective date of this act.

With regard to existing buildings, the Legislature recognizes that it is not always practical to apply any or all of the provisions of the minimum firesafety code and that physical limitations may require disproportionate effort or expense with little increase in lifesafety. Prior to applying the minimum firesafety code to an existing building, the local fire official shall determine that a threat to lifesafety or property exists. If a threat to lifesafety or property exists, the fire official shall apply the applicable firesafety code for existing buildings to the extent practical to assure a reasonable degree of lifesafety and safety of property or the fire official shall fashion a reasonable alternative which affords an equivalent degree of lifesafety and safety of property. The decision of the local fire official may be appealed to the local administrative board described in s. 553.73.

Nothing herein shall preclude a municipality, county, or special district from requiring a structure to be maintained in accordance with the applicable firesafety code.

Electrically operated single station smoke detectors required for residential buildings are not required to be interconnected within individual living units in all buildings having direct access to the outside from each living unit and having three stories or less. This subsection does not apply to any residential building required to have a manual or an automatic fire alarm system.

The provisions of the Life Safety Code shall not apply to newly constructed one-family and two-family dwellings. However, fire sprinkler protection may be permitted by local government in lieu of other fire protection-related development requirements for such structures. While local governments may adopt fire sprinkler requirements for one- and two-family dwellings under this subsection, it is the intent of the Legislature that the economic consequences of the fire sprinkler mandate on home owners be studied before the enactment of such a requirement. After the effective date of this act, any local government that desires to adopt a fire sprinkler requirement on one- or two-family dwellings must prepare an economic cost and benefit report that analyzes the application of fire sprinklers to one- or two-family dwellings or any proposed residential subdivision. The report must consider the tradeoffs and specific cost savings and benefits of fire sprinklers for future owners of property. The report must include an assessment of the cost savings from any reduced or eliminated impact fees if applicable, the reduction in special fire district tax, insurance fees, and other taxes or fees imposed, and the waiver of certain infrastructure requirements including the reduction of roadway widths, the reduction of water line sizes, increased fire hydrant spacing, increased dead-end roadway length and a reduction in cul-de-sac sizes relative to the costs from fire sprinkling. A failure to prepare an economic report shall result in the invalidation of the fire sprinkler requirement to any one- or two-family dwelling or any proposed subdivision. In addition, a local jurisdiction or utility may not charge any additional fee, above what is charged to a non-fire sprinklered dwelling, on the basis that a one- or two-family dwelling unit is protected by a fire sprinkler system.

Before imposing a fire sprinkler requirement on any one- or two-family dwelling, a local government must provide the owner of any one- or two-family dwelling a letter documenting specific infrastructure or other tax or fee allowances and waivers that are listed in but not limited to those described in subsection (9) for the dwelling. The documentation must show that the cost savings reasonably approximate the cost of the purchase and installation of a fire protection system.

Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (9), a property owner shall not be required to install fire sprinklers in any residential property based upon the use of such property as a rental property or any change in or reclassification of the property’s primary use to a rental property.