Why you should be a member of OSHBA? Here's why. We are tracking for you a bill that will prohibit a municipality from mandating residential fire sprinklers in one- and two-family dwellings along with almost 125 other bills. Here is our first of some upcoming legislative updates we will be posting on this blog.
This week saw the first legislative deadline of the session. I thought I would send the full tracking list for you to see how many of the bills are now dead for the session. Most just died because they never got a hearing in a committee. They were either a duplicate of a bill that did get a hearing or the leadership decided it was not a priority. A few are dead because they actually had to be killed by virtue of a negative vote. That happened to a couple of bills we opposed. That means for once a killing is a good thing.
We were successful in getting our "takings" bill out of committee, HB 2836 by Representative Scott Martin. This bill will prohibit municipalities and counties from expanding the flood plain beyond what is federally mandated for most reasons without just compensation. The bill passed without debate and without a negative vote. This bill does protect private property rights and that is important to this Legislature. It will soon go to the House Floor for a vote, so be looking for an Action Alert.
You will be receiving an Action Alert this weekend on another matter. There will be a floor amendment to a bill, HB 2659 by Representative Fred Jordan,that will prohibit a municipality from mandating residential fire sprinklers in one- and two-family dwellings. We were successful in getting the fire sprinkler mandate removed from the statewide building code, but it was left in the appendix. That meant that a city could put the code in their requirements. Our amendment would prohibit such an action. This is critical to our industry as we have already had to fight this issue in a couple of towns. Let's say NO to mandated fire sprinklers!
It is critical that our voices be heard. We must be successful in getting the amendment approved. Then we must get the bill passed. If successful, we will still have to get it approved in the Senate.
Another way to help in the political arena is to participate in our Legislative Day activities on March 28. Be sure to read the President's First Monday Memo to get the details.
