Ron, This may be true and the legal aspect of it is something I have to research more but...if we take away the legal aspect and focus on the media/PR aspect of the situation then people such as the the NAHB become the real "grinch" in the scenario of someone losing their life in a home that SHOULD have been sprinklered under the 2009 IRC.
Imagine the headline"Family dies in SFD fire that the State removed protection from in XYB legislative process". The model codes codes usually represent the standard of protection, based on consensus, that the public expects to be protected by. Imagine a national consensus of leading structural engineers agreeing on a structural provision for the code and mandating this in the the model code. Then a state like, let's just say California, ammended this out and a building fell down because of this, then I believe there would be hell to pay by the legislature. This is exactly the situation that will play out when ( not if, but when) someone dies in a home that SHOULD have sprinklered under the 2009 IRC. Justin D. Reid, P.E. RLH Fire Protection 16735 Saticoy St. #110 Van Nuys, CA 91406 213-798-0251 Sent from my iPhone On Apr 1, 2009, at 11:24 PM, Ron Greenman <[email protected]> wrote: > Justin, > > I'm no lawyer nor legislator but I'm pretty involved with this code > process. I don't know the process in California but in Washington, and > I believe anywhere, the State may eviscerate the model code any which > way it likes prior to adoption, it is after all a commercially > available model. After they're done (subtracting, adding, leaving > alone) and passed it then becomes the language of the law for that > state (RCW in Washington). In all cases I know of the lesser > jurisdictions (cities and counties) must then adopt that code in a > mini/maxi state, or adopt that code and add more stringent language in > non mini/maxi states. If a legislature adopts a revised section of a > model code due to public input (and remember the NAHB is a public > special interest group and if there's no opposition...---) then I > doubt that a lawsuit against the Legislature would have a chance. The > law is a mystical land where logic takes a perpetual holiday and none > sense rules. > > On Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 11:03 PM, Justin Reid <[email protected]> > wrote: >> I believe all of these local legislative acts will be mute the first >> time a person dies in a single family dwelling that SHOULD have been >> sprinklered based on the 2009 IRC. I will stongly feel the pain of >> the >> family that this happens to and will hope that they explore all of >> the >> legal avenues available to them at the time this happens (and it will >> happen, it's a matter of statistics and time). >> >> It is my understanding that jurisdictions have the option of making >> the code that they adopt more restictive but not less restrictive. If >> they want to pass legislation like this then they will have to find >> another code (other than the IRC) that suits them better. >> >> This argument argument should be passed on to all local district >> attorneys who are in jurisdictions that these laws are being >> proposed. Am I wrong? Please somebody tell me if I am off base on my >> restrictions assumption. >> >> Justin D. Reid, P.E. >> RLH Fire Protection >> 16735 Saticoy St. #110 >> Van Nuys, CA 91406 >> 213-798-0251 >> >> Sent from my iPhone >> >> On Apr 1, 2009, at 10:02 PM, "Ryan J. Smith" >> <[email protected] >> > wrote: >> >>> I have not seen anyone mention this yet on the forum (if I missed >>> it I >>> apologize for the duplicate announcement). There is a proposed bill >>> in >>> Texas, HB1511, that would prohibit jurisdictions form enforcing any >>> requirements for fire sprinklers in one and two family dwelling that >>> are >>> less than 7,500 sq.ft. This is the latest in a series of proposed >>> bills >>> across the country to prevent the adoption of the 2009 IRC that >>> includes >>> the residential fire sprinkler requirement. >>> >>> Details and the actual legislative alert from the Texas Fire Chiefs >>> Association, Texas Fire Marshal's Association and others can be >>> viewed >>> at the following link: >>> >>> http://www.residentialfiresprinklers.com/blog/texas-proposed-bill-hb1511-will-limit-local-authority-to-adopt-codes/ >>> >>> Ryan J. Smith >>> >>> Residential Fire Sprinklers .com - Your Source for Home Fire >>> Protection >>> http://www.ResidentialFireSprinklers.com >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Sprinklerforum mailing list >>> http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum >>> For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] >>> >>> To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] >>> (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) >> _______________________________________________ >> Sprinklerforum mailing list >> http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum >> For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] >> >> To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] >> (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) >> > > > > -- > Ron Greenman > at home.... > _______________________________________________ > Sprinklerforum mailing list > http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum > For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] > > To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] > (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
