[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1566 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

  1st Session
                                S. 1566

 To improve fire safety by creating incentives for the installation of 
                   automatic fire sprinkler systems.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

               August 1 (legislative day, July 21), 2003

  Mr. Corzine introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To improve fire safety by creating incentives for the installation of 
                   automatic fire sprinkler systems.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Fire Safety Incentive Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) since the publication of the original study and 
        comprehensive list of recommendations in America Burning, 
        written in 1974, requested advances in fire prevention through 
        the installation of automatic sprinkler systems in existing 
        buildings have yet to be fully implemented;
            (2) fire departments responded to approximately 1,700,000 
        fires in 2001;
            (3) there were 3,745 non-terrorist related deaths and 
        almost 21,000 civilian injuries in the United States resulting 
        from fire in 2001;
            (4) 99 firefighters were killed in 2001, excluding the 
        terrorist acts on September 11th;
            (5) fire caused $8,900,000,000 in direct property damage in 
        2001;
            (6) sprinklers are responsible for a 43 to 70 percent 
        reduction in property damage from fires in public assembly, 
        educational, residential, commercial, industrial, and 
        manufacturing buildings;
            (7) fire departments respond to a fire every 18 seconds, a 
        fire breaks out in a structure every 60 seconds and in a 
        residential structure every 80 seconds in the United States;
            (8) the Station Nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, 
        did not contain an automated sprinkler system and burned down, 
        killing 99 people on February 20, 2003;
            (9) due to an automated sprinkler system, not a single 
        person was injured from a fire beginning in the Fine Line Music 
        Cafe in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after the use of pyrotechnics 
        on February 17, 2003;
            (10) the National Fire Protection Association has no record 
        of a fire killing more than 2 people in a completely 
        sprinklered public assembly, educational, institutional, or 
        residential building where the system was properly installed 
        and fully operational;
            (11) sprinkler systems dramatically improve the chances of 
        survival of those who cannot save themselves, specifically 
        older adults, young children, and people with disabilities;
            (12) most property owners are incapable of upgrading fire 
        counter measures in buildings built prior to fire safety codes 
        due to the financial cost of retrofitting;
            (13) many State and local governments lack any requirements 
        for new structures to contain automatic sprinkler systems;
            (14) under the present straight-line method of 
        depreciation, there is a disincentive for building safety 
        improvements due to an extremely low rate of return on 
        investment; and
            (15) the Nation is in need of incentives for the voluntary 
        installation and retrofitting of buildings with automated 
        sprinkler systems to save the lives of countless individuals 
        and responding firefighters as well as drastically reduce the 
        costs from property damage.

SEC. 3. CLASSIFICATION OF AUTOMATIC FIRE SPRINKLER SYSTEMS.

    (a) In General.--Section 168(e)(3)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code 
of 1986 (relating to 5-year property) is amended by striking ``and'' at 
the end of clause (v), by striking the period at the end of clause (vi) 
and inserting ``, and'', and by inserting after clause (vi) the 
following new clause:
                            ``(vii) any automatic fire sprinkler 
                        system.''.
    (b) Alternative System.--The table contained in section 
168(g)(3)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to special 
rule for certain property assigned to classes) is amended by inserting 
after the third item the following new item:

    ``(B)(vii)....................................                 7''.
    (c) Definition of Automatic Fire Sprinkler System.--Section 168(i) 
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to definitions and 
special rules) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(15) Automated fire sprinkler system.--The term 
        `automated fire sprinkler system' means those sprinkler systems 
        classified under 1 or more of the following publications of the 
        National Fire Protection Association:
                    ``(A) NFPA 13, Installation of Sprinkler Systems.
                    ``(B) NFPA 13 D, Installation of Sprinkler Systems 
                in One and Two Family Dwellings and Manufactured Homes.
                    ``(C) NFPA 13 R, Installation of Sprinkler Systems 
                in Residential Occupancies up to and Including Four 
                Stories in Height.''.
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to property placed in service after the date of the enactment of 
this Act.
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