11.29.24 – Topeka Capital-Journal
Kansas has the oldest fire code in country. An update was ‘derailed’ by new law.
The Kansas fire marshal told lawmakers that his office’s efforts to update the state’s fire code have been stymied by a new anti-regulation law passed earlier this year.
Fire marshal Mark Engholm shared the news during a presentation to the Legislative Budget Committee on Monday about fire safety inspections at child care centers.
“Kansas has a 2006 version of the fire code,” Engholm said. “We are the oldest fire code in the United States of any state in existence. We were fairly close to getting to a more updated code but were derailed, unfortunately.
“We were derailed by some of the the actions in the last session as far as rules and regulations and dealing with the economic impact studies. It’s very difficult for us to say how would a fire code economic impact across the state. So we’re having to back that off and revisit it.”
Engholm was referring to House Bill 2648, which became law when the Republican-led House and Senate overrode the veto of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly in April. The law went into effect July 1. Supporters of the law, who refer to it as the REINS Act, intended it to take power away from government bureaucrats to impose regulations that are costly to businesses.
The law requires more robust economic impact statements from regulators. If compliance costs would collectively exceed $1 million over five years, state agencies are prohibits from promulgating those regulations and can only pursue them if the Legislature gives explicit approval by ratifying it through a bill that can only be introduced by a legislator.
There are no provisions for doing such a ratification process outside of the legislative session, which doesn’t start until January.
Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for The Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@gannett.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.