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STATE OF OKLAHOMA
1st Session of the 58th Legislature (2021)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
SENATE BILL 881 By: Jett
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
An Act relating to State Fire Marshal; amending 74
O.S. 2011, Section 317, which relates to examination
of buildings and premises; expanding jurisdiction;
updating statutory language; increasing fine;
providing for multiple violations; amending 74 O.S.
2011, Section 324.9, which relates to investigations;
deleting requirement for State Fire Marshal to be a
peace officer; amending 74 O.S. 2011, Sectio n 324.11,
which relates to building permits; modifying
description; modifying certain construction; updating
language; amending 74 O.S. 2011, Section 324.19 ,
which relates to violations; expanding list of who
can violate State Fire Marshal orders; updating
statutory reference; permitting State Fire Marshal to
determine amount of fines; allowing for a hearing by
those fined for violation; requiring an
administrative hearing officer to hear and propose
findings to State Fire Marshal Commission for
consideration; setting time of consideration ;
requiring Commission t o issue final order; allowing
for process to supersede current hearing and appeal
systems; providing for party to appeal to the
district court of the county; providing that certain
process supersedes current hearing and appeal
systems; directing fines to be deposited into the
State Fire Marshal Revolving Fund; amending 74 O.S.
2011, Section 324.20b, as amended by S ection 848,
Chapter 304, O.S.L. 2012 (74 O.S . Supp. 2020, Section
324.20b), which relates to the State Fire Marshal
Revolving Fund; removing cap amount of fund; and
providing an effective date.
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OK LAHOMA:
SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 74 O.S. 2011, Section 317, is
amended to read as follows:
Section 317. The State Fire Marshal, any ass istants to the
State Fire Marshal, the chief of the fire departmen t of all the
cities and towns whe re a fire department is establ ished, the mayor
of the cities and towns where no fire departme nt exists, the chief
of a fire protection district created pursu ant to Sections 901.1 et
seq. of Title 19 of the Oklahoma Statutes and the sheriff of all
counties, upon the complaint of any per son having an intere st in any
building or property adjacent, an d without any complaint, shal l have
the right at all reasonable hours for the purpose of an examination
to enter into and upon all buildings and premises within th eir
jurisdiction. The State F ire Marshal shall, a t least once each
year, make a fire inspect ion of all correctional facil ities under
the jurisdiction and co ntrol of any state agency, county, city or,
town, or public trust. The correctional facilities sha ll include,
but not be limited to, institutions within the Department of
Corrections as defined by Section 502 of Title 57 of the Oklahoma
Statutes, juvenile institutions unde r the jurisdiction and control
of the Department Office of Institutions, Social a nd Rehabilitative
Services Juvenile Affairs, as listed in Section 2-7-606 of Title 10A
of the Oklahoma Statutes, and jails. The State Fire Marshal shall
issue a report containing findings of the ins pection as to each
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facility under the jurisdiction and co ntrol of a state agency, to
the director of the ag ency. As to any other correctional facility,
the State Fire Marshal shall iss ue the report to the person
immediately responsible for the administrat ion of the facility
inspected. Whenever any of the offic ers shall find any building or
other structure which for the want of proper repair, or by reason of
age and dilapidated conditio n, or for any cause is especially li able
to fire, and which is so situa ted as to endanger other buildings or
property, or so occupied that a fire would endanger persons and
property therein, the officers shall order the building or buildings
to be repaired, torn down, demolished, materials r emoved and all
dangerous conditions remedied. Whenever the officers determine that
a threat to life is imminent, the officers are permitted t o order
the evacuation of the occupants of the bui lding or buildings. If
the officer finds in a building or upon any premises any combustible
or explosive material, rubbish, rags, waste, oils, gasoline or
inflammable conditions of any kind, dangerous to t he safety of
buildings or property, the officer sh all order the materials remo ved
or conditions remedied. The ord er shall be made against the owner,
lessee, agent or occupant of the buildings or premises a nd,
thereupon, the order shall be complied with by the owner, lessee,
agent or occupant, and within the time fixed in the order. If the
owner, lessee, agent or occ upant deems itself aggrieved by an order
of any of the officers, and desires a hearing, that person may
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complain or appeal in writing to the S tate Fire Marshal within ten
(10) days from the se rvice of the order, and the State Fire Marshal
shall at once investigate the complaint, and shall f ix a time in the
county where the property is located, wh en and where the complaint
will be heard by the St ate Fire Marshal. The State Fire Marshal may
affirm, modify, revoke or vacate the order at the hearing, and
unless the order is revoked or vacated b y the State Fire Marshal, it
shall remain in force and be complied with by the owner, lessee,
agent or occupant within the time fixed in the order, or within the
time as may be fixed by the State Fire Marshal at the heari ng. If a
person is aggrieved by th e final order of the State Fire Marshal as
made at the hearing, that person may, within ten (10) days
thereafter, appeal to the district court of the county in which the
property is situated, notifying the State Fire Mars hal in writing of
the appeal within three (3) days thereafter, which notice shall be
delivered personally to the State Fire Marshal or by regi stered mail
to the office of the State Fire Marsha l at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma .
The party appealing shall, within three (3) days thereafter, file
with the clerk of the district court in which the appeal is made, a
bond in an amount to be fixed by the cour t but in no case less than
One Hundred Dollars ($1 00.00), with at least suffic ient sureties to
be approved by the court, conditioned to pay all costs on the appeal
in case the appellant failed to sustain th e same or the appeal be
dismissed for any cause. The district court shall hear and
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determine the appeal de novo, in the same ma nner as other issues of
law and fact are heard and tried in the courts, and the State Fire
Marshal shall be plaintiff in the act ion. The district court shall
hear and determine the appeal at the next regular term of district
court in the county where the order was issued, and may sustain,
modify or annul the order of the Sta te Fire Marshal, and the
decision of the district court s hall be final. The State Fire
Marshal shall execute the final order of the district court, and if
the order is adverse to the a ppellant, the State Fire Marshal is
empowered to cause the building or premises to be repaired, torn
down, demolished, materials removed and all dangerous conditions
remedied, as the case may be, at the expense of the appellant. If
the appellant fails, re fuses or neglects to comply with the order,
or pay the expense incurred by the State Fire Marshal in executing
the same within thirty (30) days thereafter, the expense shall be
certified by the State Fire Marshal to the county a ssessor of the
county in which the property is situated and the county assessor
shall enter the expense on the tax list of the county as a special
charge against the real estate on which the building is or was
situated, and the same shall be collected as o ther taxes and, when
collected, shall be paid to the county trea surer and credited to the
general fund of the county in which the property is located. Any
person being the owner, occupant, lessee or agent of buildings or
premises, who willfully fails, neg lects or refuses to comply w ith
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any order of any officer named i n this section shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor and shall be fined not more than Fifty Dollars ($50.00)
One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) nor less than Ten Dollars ($10.00)
for each day’s neglect One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) per day of
violation. Each day during which such vio lation occurs or continues
shall constitute a separate offense.
SECTION 2. AMENDATORY 74 O.S. 2011, Section 324.9, is
amended to read as follows:
Section 324.9. A. The State Fire Marshal or deputies of the
State Fire Marshal may make investigations to determine the origin
and cause of fires, explosions, or suspected arson, and violations
of other related laws and codes. The State Fire Marshal and the
agents Agents of the State Fire Marshal shall be peace officers and
have and exercise all the powers and authority o f other peace
officers, with responsibility for the enforcement of statutes
relating to the State Fire Marshal. This shall include the
authority to enforce, issue citations for violations of state and
city-adopted codes, and make arrests for felony offenses relevant to
the duties of the State Fire Marshal. All reports and all results
of investigations relevant to the State Fire Marshal statu tes shall
be available and shall be freely interchanged between the Office of
the State Fire Marshal and the Oklahom a State Bureau of
Investigation.
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B. The State Fire Marshal Commission may establish fees, fines,
and administrative penalties for inspectio ns, plan reviews, and
permits as provided in the adopted codes of the Commission, as long
as the fees, fines, and ad ministrative penaltie s do not conflict
with any applicable state law. All fees, fines, and administrative
penalties shall be adopted in acc ordance with the Administrative
Procedures Act.
SECTION 3. AMENDATORY 74 O.S. 2011, Sectio n 324.11, is
amended to read as follows:
Section 324.11. A. No person, firm, corp oration, partnership,
organization, city, town, sch ool district, county or other
subdivision of government shall commence the construction or major
alteration of any buildings or structures to be used as schools,
hospitals, churches, asylums, theaters, mee ting halls, hotels,
motels, apartment houses, roomi ng houses, rest homes, nursing homes,
day nurseries, convalescent homes, orphanages, auditoriums, assis ted
living facilities, dormitories, factories, stadiums, or warehouses,
classified in the state-adopted building codes as Assembly (Groups
A1 through A5), Business (Group B), Educational (Group E), Factory
(Groups F1 and F2), High Hazard (Group s H1 through H5),
Institutional (Groups I1 through I4), Mercantile (Group M),
Residential (Groups R1 through R4), or Storage (Groups S1 and G2)
including all defined occupancies within these groups, or install
original equipment for the operation or maintenance thereof without
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obtaining a permit. Said The permit, for which a charge may be made
in conformity with the local ordinance, except as limited herein as
to governmental agencies, shall be obtained from the city, town or
county in whose jurisdiction the constructi on or alteration is
planned.
B. All such construction or alteration so planned shall conform
to the applicable provisions of the building code, as last adopted
by the Oklahoma Uniform Building Code Commission.
C. Application for such building permit shal l be made to, and
such building permit shall be issued by, any city, town or county in
whose jurisdiction the construction or alteration is planned. The
city, town or county may require the submission of plans and
specifications covering the proposed cons truction or alteration and
may refuse to issue such permit unless the work so planned is in
accordance with the applicable provisions of the city, town or
county’s building code. In all geographical areas wherein no such
permit is required by local author ities such permit must be obtained
from the State Fire Marshal, who may require the submission of pla ns
and specifications covering the proposed construction or alteration,
and shall refuse to issue such permit unles s the work so planned is
in accordance with the applicable provisions of the building code,
as last adopted by the Oklahoma Uniform Building Code Commission;
provided, that the foregoing provisions of this sentence shall not
apply to locations in any geogr aphical area that are owned or
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operated by a state beneficiary public trust or have been purchased
or leased from a state beneficiary public trust.
D. Nothing in this act Section 324.1 et seq. of this title
shall be construed as repealing any ordinance of any city , or town
or any order of any county requiring the submission to the local
authorities of plans and specifications and the obt aining of
permits, but the power or authority of any such city, town or county
to levy or assess any charge for such permit or to make and enforce
requirements prerequisite to t he issuance of such permit, othe r than
requiring compliance with such building code, shall, as to
governmental agencies, be limited as hereinafter set forth.
E. No city, town or county requested to issue any such permit
to any city, town, school district, county or other subdivision of
government shall charge, assess or collect any fee or other charge
for such permit except the regular and customary inspection fees
fixed by ordinance for inspection of the work to be done under such
permit, and no other cha rge, fee or other conditions of any kind
under the authority of this title shal l be made a condition of or
prerequisite to the obtaining of such permit by any such
governmental agency.
F. No bids may be let for the construction or major alteration
of any correctional facility as defined by Section 317 of this title
until plans and specifications for such construction or alteration
have been submitted to the State Fire Marshal for approval. The
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State Fire Marshal shall approve said the plans and specificatio ns
if the work so planned conf orms with the applicable provisions of
the building code, as last adopted by the Ok lahoma Uniform Building
Code Commission.
G. 1. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the fire
code and/or building code, as last adopte d by the Oklahoma Uniform
Building Code Commission, all facilities to be lice nsed as assisted
living facilities, or additions to existing assisted living
facilities, constructed after November 1, 2008, shall be constructed
with the guidelines of the I -II building occupancies if at any time
in their operation they house residents wh o are not capable of
responding to emergency situations without physical assistance from
staff of the facility or are not capable of self preservation.
2. Assisted living facilit ies licensed prior to July 1, 2008,
may house residents who are not capable o f responding to emergency
situations without physical assistance from the staff or are not
capable of self preservation under the following conditions: As
part of the annual lice nsure renewal process, the fac ility shall
disclose if any residents who resid e in the facility are not capable
of responding to emergency situations without physical assistance
from staff or are not capable of self preservation, and the facility
shall be required to install fire sprink ler protection and an alarm
system within the facility in accordance with the build ing
guidelines set forth in the building code for I -II facilities.
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3. Assisted living facilities licensed to house six or fewer
residents prior to July 1, 2008, shall be pe rmitted to install 13D
or 13R fire sprinkler pr otection in lieu of meeting I-II sprinkler
requirements, with approval of the municipal fire marshal or
compliance with local codes.
4. For purposes of this subsection:
a. the term “assisted living center ” shall include an
assisted living center licensed as such by the State
Department of Health and the assisted living center
component of a continuum care facility licensed by the
State Department of Health, and
b. the terms “fire code” and “building code” shall be
deemed to include:
(1) any and all appendices, commentary, amendments
and supplements to, and replacements or
restatements of the Codes, and
(2) any and all other laws, ordinances, regulations,
codes or standards pertaini ng to assisted living
center construction, occupancy and maintenance
for the protection of lives and property fro m
fire.
SECTION 4. AMENDATORY 74 O.S. 2011, Section 324.19, is
amended to read as follows:
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Section 324.19. Any person, firm or, corporation, partnership,
organization, city, town, school district, county or other
subdivision of government who fails to comply with the provisions of
Section 1 of this act 324.11 of this title or any lawful order of
the State Fire Marshal shall be subject to payment of a f ine, the
amount to be determined by the State Fire Marshal, of not more than
One Thousand Dollars ($1,00 0.00) for each day’s failure to comply
with this act; provided, that any person or entity described above
who is fined shall have the right to a hearing . The hearing request
must be submitted in writing to the State Fire Marshal within ten
(10) days of the fine notice and shall be heard by an Administrative
Hearing Officer at a date and time set by the Officer. After the
hearing, the Officer shall issue a proposed order containing
proposed findings of fact and conclusion of law which shall be
presented to the State Fire Marshal Commission at the next scheduled
meeting at least ten (10) days after issuance of the proposed order.
The State Fire Marshal Co mmission may adopt, modify or deny, in
whole or in part, the proposal from the Officer, an d the Commission
shall issue a final order containing findings of fact and conclusion
of law and give notice to the parties involved as soon as practical
after issuance. Any party aggrieved by the final o rder of the State
Fire Marshal Commission may appeal to the district court of the
county in which the party seeking r eview resides or where the
property interest affected is situated in accordance with Section
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318 of Title 75 of the Oklahoma Statutes. The process supersedes
any hearing or appeal section in the state adopted building an d fire
codes. Fine collections shal l be deposited in the State Fire
Marshal Revolving Fund created in Section 324.20b of this title .
SECTION 5. AMENDATORY 74 O.S. 2011, Section 324.20b, as
amended by Section 848, Chapter 304, O.S .L. 2012 (74 O.S. Supp.
2020, Section 324.20b), is amended to read as follows:
Section 324.20b. There is hereby created in the State Treasury
a revolving fund for the State Fire Marsha l to be designated the
“State Fire Marshal Revolving Fund ”. The fund shall be a continuing
fund, not subject to fi scal year limitations, and shall consist of
monies received from the sale of surplus property, fees and receipts
collected pursuant to the Ok lahoma Open Records Act, fines,
forfeitures, fees, charges, receipts, d onations, gifts, bequests,
contributions, devises, interagency reimbursements, federal funds
unless otherwise provided by federal law or regulation, or any other
source. The fund shall consist of no more than Five Hundr ed Fifty
Thousand Dollars ($550,000. 00). All monies accruing to the credit
of the fund are hereby appropriated and may be budgeted and e xpended
by the State Fire Marshal for authorized purposes. Expenditures
from the fund shall be made upon warrants issu ed by the State
Treasurer against cl aims filed as prescribed by law with the
Director of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services for
approval and payment.
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SECTION 6. This act shall become effecti ve November 1, 2021.
58-1-1851 MR 2/25/2021 2:23:01 PM