Briefs

Assembly Bill 2343 reaches Senate floor SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The California Assembly has passed Assembly Bill 2343, known as Fire Sprinklers in School Modernization Projects. If signed into law, the bill would require the installation of sprinklers in all school renovation projects. AB 2343 closes a loophole in Senate Bill 575, passed in 2001, which requires automatic fire detection systems and sprinklers in new school construction projects, but just automatic detection systems and not sprinklers for modernization projects in existing schools. Assemblyman Joe Nation from the 6th Assembly District, which includes Marin County and portions of Sonoma County in the North Bay area of California, introduced the bill after 11 fires occurred in the Bay Area in under a year. A spokesperson from the assemblyman’s office could not provide a timeline for passage. Town passes alarm system bylaw WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - Starting this month, alarm users in Williamstown must file and pay a fee for an annual alarm permit. The board of selectman for this town of 8,300 unanimously recommended adoption of the bylaw after the police department responded to 297 false alarm calls last year, out of 299 total alarms. Violators of the new bylaw face warnings for the first two false alarm dispatches. For the third and fourth offenses, users receive fines of $100 for each incident with the threat of suspension or revocation of their alarm permit. By the fifth false dispatch, the alarm user receives a fine of $300 and their permit is revoked. City distinguishes fire sprinkler proposal ELGIN, Ill. - The council representing the City of Elgin, a suburb of Chicago with an approximate population of 94,000, rejected a proposal that would have required the installation of fire sprinklers in new residential construction throughout the city. If passed, the ordinance woulds have required all multifamily buildings of two units or more to have fire sprinklers.