Bill Description: House Bill 643 would exempt new multiplex homes from being required to install automatic fire sprinkler systems, but it would require all new single-family homes and multiplex homes to install heat detection devices in garages.
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Does it give government any new, additional, or expanded power to prohibit, restrict, or regulate activities in the free market? Conversely, does it eliminate or reduce government intervention in the market?
Idaho code currently says single-family homes and multiple-family dwellings with up to two units are not required to have automatic fire sprinkler systems installed.
House Bill 643 would amend Section 39-4116, Idaho Code, to redefine the term “multiple-family dwelling up to two (2) units” to include “multiple-family dwellings that exceed two (2) units if the building permit for new construction was issued on or after July 1, 2026; no more than two (2) units are on the same side of the same two (2) hour fire wall between dwelling units; and the fire wall separating dwelling units is constructed from the lowest portion of the unit and extends to the roof of the unit without any penetrations.”
The bill’s statement of purposes says this applies to 4-plex dwellings, although the language would seem to include larger multiplexes as well, so long as they had fire walls separating each block of two units.
The bill would add new language saying that in order for any new single-family home or multiple-family dwelling up to two (2) units (which actually means more than two units per the other change), “such unit shall have a heat detection device with a suitable temperature rating installed in any attached garage. Any such heat detection device shall be interconnected with the smoke alarm system for the home or dwelling unit to which the garage is attached.”
While easing a restriction on new multiplex homes is positive, it impacts relatively few construction projects, relative to the number of single-family homes and duplexes that are being constructed and would have to comply with the new mandate imposed by this bill.
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