Sponsor seeks a right to request code citation after stop‑work orders; cities and architects warn of unintended safety, liability risks

Representative Katie Zolnikov told the Senate Business and Labor Committee House Bill 427 would give a permit applicant the right to request the specific code citation a building department relied on when issuing a stop‑work order or delaying a permit. If the jurisdiction fails to respond within seven business days, the bill as drafted would waive the applicability of those code sections to the permit application or the construction process.

Zolnikov said the bill addresses cases where developers received stop‑work orders without clear, written code citations and subsequently endured long, discretionary delays that blocked construction. She said the request is not automatic; the applicant must ask for the citation and the bill was written to push local officials toward clear, timely communication.

Opponents — including the American Institute of Architects’ Montana chapter, city officials from Missoula and Bozeman, and the Montana League of Cities and Towns — urged the committee to reject or substantially amend the proposal. They said the provision that waives code applicability after seven days is vague and could expose the public to safety risks if critical safety standards are waived because of a communication breakdown. “A simple miscommunication should not waive the building code entirely,” said Daryl James of AIA Montana.

Local officials described the permitting process as iterative and noted that a building permit application is often filed early in the project sequence (sometimes while subdivision or other approvals are still pending). They argued the bill’s timeline and waiver language could apply before all project information is available and could expose inspectors and future occupants to hazards.

Several opponents suggested alternatives: a clearer definition of “delay,” a requirement that jurisdictions include cited code sections in initial stop‑work notices, or daily administrative penalties for failure to respond rather than waiving code provisions. Department of Labor and Industry staff and some counties said they already provide citations in many cases and offered to work on balanced amendments.

The committee heard no public‑safety incident that would be directly prevented by the waiver language, but members discussed the need to improve communication and the sponsor said she would be open to technical fixes. The committee did not vote during the hearing.

Why it matters: the bill would add an enforcement mechanism to compel building departments to explain stop‑work orders; opponents raised concerns about vague waiver language and public‑safety liability.