Act No. 254

Public Acts of 2003

Approved by the Governor

December 23, 2003

Filed with the Secretary of State

December 29, 2003

EFFECTIVE DATE: December 29, 2003

STATE OF MICHIGAN

92ND LEGISLATURE

REGULAR SESSION OF 2003

Introduced by Senator Kuipers

ENROLLED SENATE BILL No. 761

AN ACT to amend 1937 PA 306, entitled "An act to promote the safety, welfare, and educational interests of the people of the state of Michigan by regulating the construction, reconstruction, and remodeling of certain public or private school buildings or additions to such buildings, by regulating the construction, reconstruction, and remodeling of buildings leased or acquired for school purposes, and to define the class of buildings affected by this act; to prescribe the powers and duties of certain state agencies and officials; to prescribe penalties for the violation of this act; and to repeal acts and parts of acts," by amending section 1 (MCL 388.851), as amended by 2002 PA 628.

The People of the State of Michigan enact:

Sec. 1. A school building, public or private, or any additions to a school building, shall not be erected, remodeled, or reconstructed in this state unless all of the following requirements are met:

(a) All plans and specifications for buildings shall be prepared by an architect or professional engineer who is licensed in this state. An architect or professional engineer licensed in this state or another person qualified to supervise construction shall supervise the construction of a school building. For energy conservation improvements and services under section 1274a of the revised school code, 1976 PA 451, MCL 380.1274a, the licensed architect or professional engineer may be directly affiliated with the qualified provider, as defined under that section, that is providing the applicable improvements and services. However, the specifications for the project shall be generic in character and, to the extent possible, shall not include proprietary equipment or technology developed by the qualified provider or in which the qualified provider has an interest.

(b) All walls, floors, partitions, and roofs shall be constructed of fire-resisting materials such as stone, brick, tile, concrete, gypsum, steel, or similar fire-resisting material. All steel members shall be protected by at least 3/4 of an inch of fire-resisting material.

(c) Wood lath or wood furring shall not be used in the construction. This requirement does not prohibit the use of finished wood flooring, wood door and window frames, wood sash, or wood furring and grounds, for the purpose of installing wood trim, panelling, acoustical units, or similar facing materials on masonry walls, structural steel, or concrete ceiling members.

(d) Every room enclosing a heating unit shall be enclosed by walls of fire-resisting materials and shall be equipped with automatically closing fire doors. A heating unit shall not be located directly beneath any portion of a school building or addition that is constructed or reconstructed after January 1, 2003. This requirement does not require the removal of an existing heating plant from beneath an existing building when an addition to the building is constructed unless the department requires that removal in the interests of the public safety. In any school where natural gas or any other kind of gas is used for heating purposes, the gas shall be chemically treated before being used in such a manner as to give a very distinguishable odor if a leak develops in the heating system.

(e) In a gymnasium, fire-proofings may be omitted from the trusses and purlins if they are more than 16 feet off the main floor level.

(f) The architect or engineer shall provide adequate exits from all parts of a school building. In all cases, there shall be at least 2 stairways and the distance from the door of any class or assembly room to a stairway or exit shall not exceed 100 feet.

(g) A requirement in subdivisions (b) to (f) may be waived in writing by the department.

(h) Compliance with section 1b.

Enacting section 1. This amendatory act does not take effect unless Senate Bill No. 482 of the 92nd Legislature is enacted into law.

This act is ordered to take immediate effect.

Secretary of the Senate

Clerk of the House of Representatives

Approved

Governor