Bill would raise several State Fire Marshal fees to better match inspection and review costs

Senator Dave Wardekamper, representing Legislative District 15, introduced LB434 to update and increase a range of fees administered by the State Fire Marshal’s Office that the sponsor said have not been raised in decades.

"Many of these fees have remained unchanged for 20 to 30 years," Wardekamper said. He and interim State Fire Marshal Doug Cobine (interim state fire marshal) said higher fees are meant to reduce the gap between fee revenue and the costs of inspections, plan reviews, licensing, and other services; the sponsor emphasized the bill is not intended to generate net revenue but to offset rising operating costs.

Doug Cobine testified LB434 would increase fees for services such as public-fireworks-display permits (currently $10), fire-and-life-safety inspections for larger hospitals, and plan-review fees. Cobine said the bill raises the maximum plan-review fee from $500 to $10,000 but that top-tier fees apply only to projects with very large projected costs — Cobine said the $10,000 cap would be reached for projects with projected costs around $2,800,000 or greater. "While this is a large increase, it still represents only a small percentage of the total project cost and is lower than what is being charged in many cities and surrounding states," Cobine said.

Committee members sought details on how fees were determined and whether increases would affect small businesses, affordable housing, or single-family construction. The sponsor and marshal said the state-level fees apply to state inspections and plan reviews, not to municipalities that set their own fees; the sponsor said single-family dwellings and duplexes are generally not regulated by the state fire marshal office.

The Nebraska Realtors Association and home-builders officials opposed the bill, citing rising construction compliance costs. Registered lobbyist Corby Gilbert said a recent University of Nebraska Omaha study estimated 32% of a new construction home's cost in Omaha goes to government regulation (national average 21.5%), and warned increases could exacerbate housing affordability issues. Gilbert also noted that language in the amendment changing certain penalty distributions may implicate Article VII, Section 5 of the Nebraska Constitution, which directs some penalties to the permanent school fund.

For the hearing record the committee reported proponents 0, opponents 4, neutral 1. No committee vote on final passage was recorded during the hearing. The sponsor asked the committee to advance the bill to allow further work on implementation details.

Ending: The committee closed the hearing; the sponsor said he would seek follow-up with the State Fire Marshal's Office to address industry concerns.