44th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2000

RELATING TO FIRE PREVENTION; CLARIFYING THAT THE RULES OF THE STATE FIRE MARSHAL APPLY TO THE USE OF PUBLIC OCCUPANCIES RATHER THAN THE PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION OF PUBLIC OCCUPANCIES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

Section 1. Section 59A-52-15 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1984, Chapter 127, Section 961) is amended to read:

"59A-52-15. FIRE PREVENTION--PUBLIC OCCUPANCIES REGULATIONS.--

A. For prevention and control of fires the state fire [board] marshal shall [formulate, adopt and] promulgate, [and amend or revise regulations] pursuant to the State Rules Act, rules for fire prevention and safe conduct or use of public occupancies. For the purposes of this provision "public occupancies" consist of places of assembly, educational occupancies, institutional occupancies, residential occupancies consisting of four [(4)] or more family units, mercantile occupancies, office occupancies, industrial occupancies, storage occupancies and miscellaneous structures consisting of towers, underground structures and windowless buildings and all buildings owned or occupied by the state government or any political subdivision thereof or by municipal governments; and [regulations] rules concerning the sale, servicing or use of fire safety, prevention, detection or suppression equipment or materials. The [regulations] rules shall be adopted after notice and public hearing. The notice shall be entitled "notice of proposed rule making" and it shall contain the date of the hearing and shall state the subject of the hearing. [A copy of the notice, along with a copy of the proposed regulations, shall be filed with the supreme court librarian at least twenty (20) days prior to the hearing.] In addition, the [board] fire marshal bureau shall make available for inspection at its offices, a copy of the proposed [regulations] rules.

B. The rules [and regulations] shall follow nationwide standards except in the area of life safety codes, which shall be compatible with the Uniform Building Code, as revised from time to time, issued by the international conference of building officials.

C. Rules promulgated pursuant to Subsection A of this section shall apply during the use and operation of public occupancies and not to the planning and construction of public occupancies. Upon the issuance of a certificate of occupancy or similar attestation by an inspector for the state or appropriate political subdivision that a public occupancy has been constructed pursuant to codes adopted under the Construction Industries Licensing Act or by county or municipal ordinance, no rule of the state fire marshal shall be interpreted to require an alteration, remodeling or reconstruction of that public occupancy.

[C.] D. The rules [and regulations] shall allow reasonable provision under which facilities in service prior to the effective date of the rules [and regulations] and not in strict conformity therewith may be continued in service. [Noncomforming] Nonconforming facilities in service prior to the adoption of [regulations which] rules that are found by the state fire marshal to constitute a distinct hazard to life or property shall not be exempt from [regulations] rules nor permitted to continue in service."