Senate panel advances weakened sprinkler bill

By Ron Menchaca
The Post and Courier

WASHINGTON — Following months of debate over how much local and state governments should pay to help some property owners install fire sprinklers, a Senate committee on Thursday signed off on a plan that falls well short of sweeping reforms proposed in the wake of last year's deadly Sofa Super Store fire in Charleston.

Experts have said that sprinklers might have slowed the fire's rapid spread before it claimed the lives of nine city firefighters.

Earlier proposals called for a statewide fire sprinkler mandate and tax incentives that would have subsidized most of the cost of installing sprinklers. But the latest version, which mostly affects only those not currently required by law to install fire sprinklers, weakens the original scope and cost savings. And one lawmaker's last-minute challenge to the bill has likely hobbled it anyway.

The bill passed by the Senate Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee would: Limit

the amount water utilities can charge any customers who install fire sprinklers to only the actual cost incurred by the utility; allow local governments to offer a tax credit up to 25 percent of the cost of installing a sprinkler system; provide a state income tax break equal to the amount of the local tax credit; and add fire sprinklers to a list of property improvements that cannot be included in property tax assessments.

"At a point in time, you decide whether or not it's for the greater good to move the legislation forward, and the legislation wasn't moving forward with an 80

percent local credit," said committee Chairman Greg Ryberg, R-Aiken.

Sen. Glenn Reese, D-Spartanburg, objected to the bill's potential economic hit on rural water utilities and placed a minority report on the legislation as it heads to the full Senate. That means the entire chamber must consent before the bill can come up for debate, according to the Senate clerk.

Charles Stewart, a Charleston construction manager and sprinkler advocate, said sprinklers save money and lives in the long run. "If anything, it's a negative impact because everybody that installs a fire sprinkler system decreases the response of a local fire station. They have cut the heart out of this bill."

The House already passed a similar sprinkler bill that proposes state-level income tax and sales tax credits. Gov. Mark Sanford opposes state subsidies for fire sprinklers.