Senate Bill S2900

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S2900

 TITLE OF BILL :
An act to amend the executive law, in relation to exempting sleeping
quarters in children's overnight camps from conflicting provisions of
the state uniform fire prevention and building codes


 PURPOSE :
This legislation would clarify that the Department of Health has the
authority to regulate children's camps, including prescribing the
occupancy limitations of their structures, by adding an exception to
the superseding authority of the New York State Fire Prevention and
Building Code.

 SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS :
This legislation adds a new paragraph to subdivision 1 of Section 383
of the executive law to clarify that the Department of Health has the
authority to regulate children's camps, including the occupancy
limitations of camp structures.

 JUSTIFICATION :
By clarifying that the regulations of the New York State Department of
Health (DOH) pertaining to summer camps are not superseded by the New
York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code (Fire Code),
confusion and inconsistency will be corrected. The prospect of
              

inconsistent enforcement through redundant inspection by two officials
from separate departments will be eliminated.

The Fire Code and the New York State Public Health Law Sanitary Code
set forth conflicting standards in relation to Summer Camp Cabins.
The New York Public Health Law delegates authority to the DOH to
regulate all children's camps. The Sanitary Code is the body of DOH
regulations for the operation of such children's camps to protect the
health and safety of children. With this special focus on children's
camps, the Sanitary Code sets forth regulations on everything from
food services, transportation and counselor credentials, to building
construction, medical personnel and fire safety. The regulations
require that the camp operator develop and annually review a written
camp safety plan that includes specifications for personnel, facility
operations, camper supervision, emergency procedures, and fire safety.
The emergency fire safety portion of the camp safety plan must be
submitted to the local fire district or department. The regulations
that are relevant to safety in residential areas specify that a smoke
detector be installed in all sleeping units, that all doors swing in
the direction of egress, and that fire drills be held within the first
48 hours of each camping session and periodically thereafter.
Furthermore, the Sanitary Code provides guidelines that determine the
maximum occupancies of different sleeping quarters such that,
depending on the number of persons in the cabin and the type of bed
used, different amounts of floor area is required per person.

However, Article 18 of the New York State Executive Law authorizes the
Department of State to create standards for the Fire Code and
specifies that the Fire Code "shall supersede any other provision of
general, special or local law, ordinance, administrative code, rule or
regulation inconsistent or in conflict therewith..." The Fire Code
sets occupancy limits for different classifications of structures, but
the Fire Code does not have a specific classification for summer camp
cabins.  Therefore, a summer camp cabin is pigeonholed into the same
classification as a dormitory or apartment building.

Summer camp cabins are so significantly different from dormitories and
apartment buildings that it is inappropriate to regulate them as such.
Dormitories and apartment buildings are structures that pose a set of
fire and safety risks far different and significantly greater than
those created by summer camp cabins.  Summer camp cabins are unique in
that they are seasonally used, small, simple structures, with no
heating systems, no ranges or cooking appliances, and only limited
electrical hookups. In essence, summer camp cabins are bare bones
shelters that are not even remotely like dormitories and apartment
buildings.

Currently, two officials, a health inspector and codes enforcement,
inspect camp cabins for safety. As they are both conducting
inspections for the same purpose, the dual inspections are unnecessary
and wasteful use of taxpayers' dollars.  Moreover, local code
enforcement officials sometimes assign inconsistent classifications to
cabins depending on where the camp is located. Because DOH has a
particular focus on camps and expertise in that area, they should
determine the standards for cabins and should not be overruled by the
general occupancy rules of the Fire Code.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :
New bill.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :
May reduce costs of duplicative inspections

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
Immediately.