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Senate Bill 489

Senate Bill 489 UPDATE

SB 489 was heard on April 30th on the senate floor with amendments.  Those amendments were accepted, and the Bill was returned to the calendar.  It is back on the Schedule for May 1st at 4pm to be heard for third reading and final passage subject to call.  

SB-489 Points of Issue based on the review of the Senate Insurance Committee Amendments by Retired Louisiana State Fire Marshall Butch Browning

This Bill

    1. Removes the requirement for Life Safety and Property Protection Systems to have annual inspections.
    2. Allows that the Fire Prevention Bureaus will have oversight of the Code Council
    3. Give The Code Council full authority to adopt fire codes, not the State Fire Marshal. 
    4. Removes FPA 101 as the State Fire Code.
      1. The code council will have to adopt any National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards that support the International Building Code. NFPA is completely removed from reference in state law.
      2. Currently NFPA 1 is adopted for the State Fire Marshal to use as needed and locals to adopt for maintenance and inspections.
    5. Calls for elimination of NFPA 1 and replacement with the International Fire Code. All buildings since the early 70’s have been built to NFPA codes. Means existing buildings will be cited by a new agency and use a different code than what it was originally built to. Historic buildings are left out. 
    6. Goes into effect and eliminates the current fire codes and does not order the Code Council to adopt the International Construction Codes till July 2025. Meaning no adopted code till then.
    7. Says the State Fire Marshal can audit a Fire Prevention Bureau but not a building official who is doing fire code enforcement. 
    8. Removes the State Fire Marshal authority to issue orders to comply with violations. 
    9. Gives the building official authority to do all fire code enforcement and eliminate the Fire Prevention Bureau. This means the fire official could be a non-fire person. 
    10. Gives Americans with Disabilities Act enforcement to the locals but removes required federal language for Americans with Disabilities Act.
    11. Eliminates State Fire Marshal Board of Review
    12. Says the State Fire Marshal will not have equivalency nor appeal authority to plan review. No authority at all to make determinations to the fire code. In local jurisdictions that take the State Fire Marshal authority will cause the State Fire Marshals to have no authority within that jurisdiction. 

                                  Original Bill Draft

                                Amendments Accepted

                                    Form Letter to Use 

What Can You Do?

  1. Reach out to the Senator President Cameron Henry and ask him not to hear this Bill on Monday.
  2. Reach out to YOUR Representative in YOUR District.
  3. Reach out to other Representatives you may have a relationship with.
  4. Reach out to the Representatives in areas where you do work.
  5. Be at the Senate to put in your RED CARD for opposition and if you’re able to speak against this bill.

Our Lobbyist – Joe Mapes of Mapes and Mapes is fighting this, but he says we should “definitely write the letter to the Senators and ask them to vote against this bill.  Also, follow the letter up with phone calls, emails, and texts to the senators asking them to help kill the bill. 

We have provided a form letter you can snail mail and email to the Senators. We have also provided the phone number for the Senators and their emails for you to use when following Joe’s advice.

Kenny Klausman of Acadian Security Plus offers these talking points with our Senators.

This Bill is:

  • Detrimental to the Life safety industry. Louisiana is the gold standard when it comes to licensing, plan review, and implementation of NFPA 72 codes.
  • MS is example. They have no enforcement, so we see schools with disconnected fire and sprinkler systems, and other building such as motels under 60k sq ft with no fire protection.
  • It would take a uniform procedure in fire design and planning from the SFM and put it hands of each parish where codes become subject to interpretation or lax.
  • We would need to get licensed in each individual parish. Right now, we are centralized for employee licenses, and permit review. This would be a large administrative burden.
  • Requirements for fire inspections and codes are left up to each parish which could result in how codes are interpreted and weakened life safety protocols.
  • Would be costly to implement. Some Parishes are already poorly funded.
  • It weakens the protection for Insurance companies and increases liabilities. They count on our industry and the SFM to effectively protect lives through NFPA during the construction process, and to make sure our systems help to mitigate any damage to life or structure.
  • It seems as if the core of the Bill is to address the latency issues for builders and contractors to get final reviews. I think there are other options than to put this in the hands of each parish. 
Watch the Senate Hearing Live
Legis.LA.gov Status Page for SB489

Contact Information for our Louisiana Senators

Dist. 1      Sen. Robert “Bob” Owen

Dist. 2      Sen. Edward J. Price – 225-644-6738 – pricee@legis.la.gov

Dist. 3      Sen. Joseph Bouie – 504-286-1033 – bouiej@legis.la.gov

Dist. 4      Sen. Jimmy Harris – 504-286-1960 – harrisj@legis.la.gov

Dist. 5      Sen. Royce Duplessis – 504-568-2740 – sen05@legis.la.gov

Dist. 6      Sen. Rick Edmonds – sen06@legis.la.gov

Dist. 7      Sen. Gary Carter – 504-361-6600 – carterg@legis.la.gov

Dist. 8      Sen. Patrick Connick – 504-371-0240 – connickp@legis.la.gov

Dist. 9      Sen. Cameron Henry – 504-838-5433 – henryc@legis.la.gov

Dist. 10    Sen. Kirk Talbot – 504-736-7299 – talbotk@legis.la.gov

Dist. 11    Sen. Patrick McMath – 985-900-6278 – sen11@legis.la.gov

Dist. 12    Sen. Beth Mizell – 985-839-3936 – mizellb@legis.la.gov

Dist. 13    Sen. Valarie Hodges

Dist. 14    Sen. Cleo Fields – 225-342-9514 – sen14@legis.la.gov

Dist. 15    Sen. Regina Barrow – 225-359-9400 – barrowr@legis.la.gov

Dist. 16    Sen. Franklin J. Foil – 225-342-6777 – foilf@legis.la.gov

Dist. 17    Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter – 225-246-8838 – sen17@legis.la.gov

Dist. 18    Sen. Eddie J. Lambert – 225-673-5048 – lamberte@legis.la.gov

Dist. 19    Sen.-Elect Gregory A. Miller

Dist. 20    Sen. Michael “Big Mike” Fesi – 985-858-2979 – sen20@legis.la.gov

Dist. 21    Sen. Robert L. Allain III – sen21@legis.la.gov

Dist. 22    Sen. Blake Miguez

Dist. 23    Sen. Jean-Paul Coussan

Dist. 24    Sen. Gerald Boudreaux – 337-267-7520 – bougreauxg@legis.la.gov

Dist. 25    Sen. Mark Abraham – 337-475-3016 – abrahamm@legis.la.gov

Dist. 26    Sen. Bob Hensgens – 337-740-6425 – sen26@legis.la.gov

Dist. 27    Sen. Jeremy Stine – 337-491-2016 – sen27@legis.la.gov

Dist. 28    Sen. Heather Cloud – 337-461-2592 – sen28@legis.la.gov

Dist. 29    Sen. Jay Luneau

Dist. 30    Sen. Mike Reese – 318-484-2288 – luneauj@legis.la.gov

Dist. 31    Sen. Alan Seabaugh – sen31@legis.la.gov

Dist. 32    Sen. Glen Womack – 318-744-0005 – sen32@legis.la.gov

Dist. 33    Sen. Stewart Cathey, Jr. – 318-582-5524 – sen33@legis.la.gov

Dist. 34    Sen. Katrina R. Jackson – 318-343-2877 – jacksonk@legis.la.gov

Dist. 35    Sen. John C. “Jay” Morris – 318-362-4270 – morrisjc@legis.la.gov

Dist. 36    Sen. “Adam” Bass – sen36@legis.la.gov

Dist. 37    Sen. William “Bill” Wheat, Jr. – sen37@legis.la.gov

Dist. 38    Sen. Thomas A. Pressly

Dist. 39    Sen. Samuel L. “Sam” Jenkins, Jr.

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                              LLSSA Lobbyist since 2015