MASSACHUSETTS FEDERATION OF BUILDING OFFICIALS
LEGISLATION
MASSACHUSETTS FEDERATION OF BUILDING OFFICIALS
LEGISLATION
LEGISLATIVE AWARENESS
Following are bills currently pending in the Massachusetts legislature which would have an impact on Building Officials. The Federation board of directors is making an effort to keep abreast of the potential impact these bills would have on our profession and on public safety throughout the Commonwealth.
Your comments and financial assistance (visit "Support MFBO" page on this site) are crucial to enable us to act to endorse or oppose bills as necessary to benefit us all! If we don’t speak up now, no one will know where we stand. Once these bills get signed into law, we have no one to blame but ourselves for not letting our voices be heard.
Click on the highlighted Bill Number to read the text of the bill. Use the "Back" key to return to this site.
Commentary and positions on the bills shown here in italics are those of the MFBO board of directors. If you have comments, or wish to see other bills posted here, please let us know on the "Contact Us" page, or put a post on our Forum.
- An act relative to fire safety
Puts enforcement of the State Building Code in the hands of local fire officials
Comments
It is our understanding that the original intent of this bill was to grant the Boston fire department access to inspect the countless state owned buildings in Boston, buildings which are currently out of their jurisdiction.
We acknowledge that familiarity with all buildings in Boston, regardless of ownership, which could require response from the Boston fire department is a reasonable request. It is apparent, however, that the language of this bill goes very far astray. Through lax drafting of the bill, it grants to all fire departments the authority to enforce the State Building Code in all buildings. We believe this not to be the intent of the bill, and call for its defeat as drafted.
– An act relative to swimming pool alarms
Requires pool alarms in all swimming pools and annual inspections of all pools
This bill requires that all swimming pools (any pool containing 24 inches of depth or more) be equipped with an automatic alarm signaling that someone or something is in the pool. No new pool shall be allowed to be constructed without an alarm.
Also included in the bill is the requirement that all pools would require annual inspections by the local Building Official to verify the existence and functionality of an alarm. As drafted, this would include existing pools. The language of the bill puts the burden of locating all existing pools, contacting the owners, and conducting annual inspections on the Building Official. Unlike other periodic inspections required by Code, the owner is not mandated to call for these inspections. It would therefor appear that the Building Official would be liable if an inspection were not done should a tragedy occur.
We feel that sufficient testing must be done to verify that residential pool alarms are, in fact, dependable enough to reasonably eliminate or reduce nuisance alarms ( a twig falling in the pool, or wind moving the water). We all know that nuisance alarms are the main cause for homeowners disabling smoke detectors.
We also feel that an annual inspection of all swimming pools in all cities and towns in the commonwealth is unrealistic, overly burdensome and not at all productive.
If a variety of alarms can be shown to be effective in preventing unattended use of residential pools, a code change (not legislation) to require them may be in order. Maintenance of the alarm should then be the responsibility of the property owner, as with all other systems in an approved building. Annual inspections should not be required any more than annual inspections of smoke detectors.
AN ACT CREATING A STATEWIDE MUTUAL AID SYSTEM
Over two years ago, the Department of Public Safety put out a call for Building Officials to sign up for possible service in mutual aid should a disaster strike outside our own community. The DPS recognized that during a large scale disaster local building departments can be overwhelmed, unable to cope with the work load without outside assistance. The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency has recognized this fact for years as well, based on a long history of natural and human-triggered emergencies throughout the commonwealth ranging from flood, tornado and hurricane devastation to a massive explosion in Danvers. To date, according to the DPS, fewer than thirty certified building officials statewide have signed on to offer assistance to sister municipalities when inevitable future incidents occur.
There are a few compelling reasons for the reluctance of building officials to sign up to offer assistance. Among them are the lack of defined jurisdictions , lack of a policy to protect us from liability outside our municipalities, and no clear statement of payment policy. This reluctance has mostly come from our appointing authorities, not from building officials themselves. House Bill 31 was drafted to set up a structure wherein cities and towns can, with confidence, deploy needed assistance in times of dire need with the assurance that policies are in place to protect their personnel and fiscal interests without risk of liability. On the other side of the equation, of course, is the assurance that others will be available to assist in their time of desperate need.
House Bill 31 set up a framework of mutual aid statewide not only for Building Officials, but also for health departments, engineering, public works, transportation, medical services, and others. As stated in the bill: “...any other resource, equipment or personnel that a party to the agreement may request or provide...” is covered under this proposal - an assurance of complete resources to face an emergency backed by the strength of a binding agreement under Massachusetts General Law.
The Federation Board of Directors was consulted early on, prior to the filing of House Bill 31, and asked to review the proposed bill and offer input. It was with our whole-hearted endorsement that the bill was filed in January of 2009, whereupon it was referred to the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government.
Listed here are the Chairs and committee members of the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government. The Federation Board of Directors is urging these legislators to move this bill forward, emphasizing the obvious impact on public safety. We urge all members to contact their local legislators, especially if listed here, with a similar message. Click on the link to each legislator and find their contact page. Send a simple email message that you, as a public safety professional, support passage of this bill. We also urge you to inform your appointing authority that this bill is languishing in committee, and that their phone call to legislators would go a long way toward moving it forward - for their benefit and the benefit of all Massachusetts’ residents.
Link
to Text of House Bill 31 – Read this first!
My name is ______________ . I am a certified Building Official serving ______________, Massachusetts. As a public safety professional, I wish to encourage the swift passage of House bill 31, An Act Creating a Statewide Mutual Aid System.
Sincerely,
Building Commissioner / Local Inspector, City, town of _______________.