HB 149, now Chapter 422: what it requires and when.

House Bill 149 passed the 2026 session, the Governor signed it on May 12, 2026, and it sits in the session laws as Chapter 422. It takes effect October 1, 2026. Most of the bill is about assistant fire marshals and fire alarm technician licensing. The part that matters to building owners is a rewrite of Public Safety section 9-102, the high-rise fire safety statute, and that is what this page covers.

The new definition of a high-rise

The old statute counted a building as a high-rise if it was seven or more stories, or over 75 feet tall. Chapter 422 drops both tests and uses the one fire codes use: a building where the floor of an occupiable story is more than 75 feet above the lowest level of fire department vehicle access. Mechanical penthouses do not count, and the measurement starts at the lowest point a fire engine can reach the building, not at street level on the high side. Open-air parking garages and buildings used only for agriculture are carved out.

In practice this moves a handful of buildings. A seven-story building with generous floor heights can drop out. A building on a slope, where the fire lane sits well below the front entrance, can come in. If your building is anywhere near the line, have the measurement taken from the fire access point before you assume either way.

The renovation trigger

Here is the sentence the whole chapter turns on. Beginning October 1, 2026, automatic fire sprinklers must be installed, to the NFPA Life Safety Code and NFPA standards, in each residential rental high-rise building that is undergoing a substantial renovation and receives building permits on or after that date.

Three words carry the weight.

• Residential rental. The sprinkler duty is written for rental high-rises. A condominium or co-op that is owner occupied is not named in this paragraph, though a building with many rented units should get a legal read before deciding it is out.
• Substantial renovation.Permanent alterations that are intended to enhance the value of the building and that cost 40 percent or more of the building’s value as assessed by the State Department of Assessments and Taxation. Both parts have to be true. Repairs and maintenance that keep the building where it is do not count. Cosmetic work does not count. The chapter also gives counties factors to weigh, such as whether the existing condition impairs tenant health and safety and whether the work is optional, so expect the permit office to ask what the project is for.
• Receives building permits on or after October 1, 2026. The date attaches to the permit, not the contract or the start of work. A project permitted in September 2026 is under the old rule even if construction runs into 2027.

Our 40 percent calculator turns an SDAT value into the dollar figure that trips the rule.

What comes with the sprinklers

A building that crosses the line does not just add sprinklers. The chapter lists a full life safety package for a substantially renovated residential rental high-rise:

• Smoke alarms or heat detectors in every sleeping area.
• Stairwells enclosed in two-hour rated construction, with 90-minute rated doors that self-close and self-latch.
• Corridor doors rated at least 20 minutes, unless partial sprinkler protection is provided along with rated corridor walls.
• Smokeproof exit enclosures, by natural ventilation, mechanical ventilation with a vestibule, or stair pressurization.
• At least two smoke compartments on each floor.
• Reduced exit access travel distances, and replacement of fire pumps that are no longer adequate.

Separately, since July 31, 2025, residential rental high-rises have had to carry smoke detectors in each interior public corridor, spaced to NFPA rules. That part is already in force, renovation or not, and the statute bars a county from demanding other system upgrades as a condition of that detector permit.

What it does not do

Chapter 422 does not revive the 2033 statewide retrofit date, and no such date exists today. For an existing building the State Fire Prevention Code runs a 12-year clock from the building’s own original violation notice, so each building has its own deadline. Chapter 422 does not reach an existing building that is not being renovated at the 40 percent scale. It does not change local programs like Montgomery County’s, which run under county law. Our 2033 status page covers that side.

What to do this year

1. Pull the current SDAT assessment for the parcel and keep it with the project file.
2. Have the 75 foot measurement taken from the fire department access point.
3. If a renovation is planned, price it against the 40 percent figure before design starts, and decide on purpose whether to stay under it, split it into phases the county will accept, or go in with sprinklers in the budget.
4. Get the existing standpipe, fire pump and alarm systems tested now. Most of the package above rides on those systems being adequate.

Financing and tax treatment for the work are on the high-rise financing page.