POSTSECONDARY SAFETY DRILLS S.B. 1142 (S-1):
SUMMARY OF BILL
REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE
Senate Bill 1142 (Substitute S-1 as reported)
Sponsor: Senator Mark C. Jansen
CONTENT
The bill would amend the Fire Prevention Code to remove colleges and universities from the application of existing fire and tornado drill requirements, and prescribe specific drill requirements for postsecondary educational institutions. Compared with the current requirements, the proposed requirements would do the following:
-- Eliminate a requirement that fire drills be held on a monthly basis.
-- Eliminate a requirement that at least eight fire drills be conducted in a dormitory each school year.
-- Eliminate a requirement that at least two tornado safety drills be conducted each school year.
Instead, a postsecondary educational institution would have to ensure that each dormitory held one fire drill in the fall semester and one in the spring semester. Additionally, if a dormitory were occupied by students during the summer semester, a fire drill would have to be conducted in that semester.
The bill also would do the following with regard to a postsecondary educational institution:
-- Require an institution to ensure unrestricted emergency egress from each dormitory while students occupied the building.
-- Require an institution to retain a record of each fire drill and all emergency procedures training completed by its staff, and make the records available to the Bureau of Fire Services upon request.
-- Prescribe civil penalties for an institution that violated the fire drill requirements.
-- Authorize the Bureau to require an inspection of an institution's facilities and the preparation of a plan of action report, paid for by the institution.
-- Beginning in 2016, require an institution to submit to the Bureau an annual statement certifying the institution's compliance with the fire drill requirements in the preceding calendar year.
-- Beginning in 2016, require the Bureau to submit to the Legislature and the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs an annual report describing each violation by a postsecondary educational institution in the preceding State fiscal year.
An institution would be responsible for a civil fine of $500 for a first violation and $1,000 for a second or subsequent violation of the bill's requirements. A civil fine would have to be paid to the General Fund and credited to the Bureau of Fire Services for enforcement of the Code.
MCL 29.19 et al. Legislative Analyst: Julie Cassidy
FISCAL IMPACT
The bill would have a positive fiscal impact on State-supported postsecondary educational institutions, and no fiscal impact on other local units of government. The bill would reduce the number of fire drills each public college or university must conduct each year, which would produce some savings for those institutions.
The bill would not have a significant fiscal impact on the Bureau of Fire Services within the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. The bill does not appear to significantly change the Bureau's administrative burden associated with the verification of fire drills at public colleges and universities. The bill could produce some new revenue for the Bureau from civil fines that would be charged to State-supported colleges and universities that failed to comply with the requirements contained in the bill. It is unknown how much revenue these fines would generate, but it is likely a small amount.
Date Completed: 12-10-14 Fiscal Analyst: Bill Bowerman
Josh Sefton
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.