Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

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69th Legislature 2025                                                                                             LC0270.1
                                           _____________ BILL NO. _____________
                   INTRODUCED BY _________________________________________________
                             BY REQUEST OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION
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  A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: “AN ACT TRANSFERRING AUTHORITY AND RESPONSIBILITY FOR
  PLAN REVIEW, PERMITTING, INSPECTION, AND BUILDING CODE ENFORCEMENT FOR PUBLIC
  BUILDINGS OWNED OR OPERATED BY STATE GOVERNMENT ENTITIES TO THE DEPARTMENT OF
  LABOR AND INDUSTRY; AND AMENDING SECTION 50-60-106, MCA.”
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  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:
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           Section 1. Section 50-60-106, MCA, is amended to read:
           "50-60-106.     Powers and duties of counties, cities, and towns. (1) As Except as provided in
  subsection (6), as allowed by Title 50, chapter 60, part 3, the examination, approval, or disapproval of plans
  and specifications, the issuance and revocation of building permits, licenses, certificates, and similar
  documents, the inspection of buildings, and the administration and enforcement of building regulations within
  the limits of a city or town are the responsibility of the city or town. The Except as provided in subsection (6),
  the examination, approval, or disapproval of plans and specifications, the issuance and revocation of building
  permits, licenses, certificates, and similar documents, the inspection of buildings, and the administration and
  enforcement of building regulations within the portion of a county that is covered by a county building code
  enforcement program are the responsibility of the county.
           (2)      Each Except as provided in subsection (6), each county, city, or town certified under 50-60-302
  shall, within its jurisdictional area:
           (a)      examine, approve, or disapprove plans and specifications for the construction of any building,
  the construction of which is pursuant or purports to be pursuant to the applicable provisions of the state building
  code or county, city, or town building code, and direct the inspection of the buildings during and in the course of
  construction;
           (b)      require that construction of buildings be in accordance with the applicable provisions of the
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69th Legislature 2025                                                                                               LC0270.1
  state building code or county, city, or town building code, subject to the powers of variance or modification
  granted to the department;
          (c)      make available to building contractors at a price that is commensurate with reproduction costs
  a checklist devised by the department pursuant to 50-60-118 for single-family dwellings and provide to
  contractors who attach a completed checklist to the plans submitted for examination the relevant building permit
  or notice of plan disapproval within 10 working days of the contractor's submission;
          (d)      during and in the course of construction, order in writing the remedying of any condition found
  to exist in, on, or about any building that is being constructed in violation of the state building code or county,
  city, or town building code. Orders may be served upon the owner or the owner's authorized agent personally or
  by sending by certified mail a copy of the order to the owner or the owner's authorized agent at the address set
  forth in the application for permission for the construction of the building. A county, city, or town certified
  pursuant to 50-60-302, by action of its building official, may grant in writing time as may be reasonably
  necessary for achieving compliance with the order. For the purposes of subsection (2)(a) and this subsection
  (2)(d), the phrase "during and in the course of construction" refers to the construction of a building until all
  necessary building permits have been obtained and all work authorized by those permits has been fully
  approved by the building official having jurisdiction.
          (e)      issue certificates of occupancy as provided in 50-60-107;
          (f)      issue permits, licenses, and other required documents in connection with the construction of a
  building;
          (g)      ensure that all construction-related fees or charges imposed and collected by the county, city,
  or town are necessary, reasonable, and uniform and are:
          (i)      except as provided in subsection (2)(g)(iii), used only for activities in support of reviewing and
  issuing a building permit and for building code enforcement, which consists of those necessary and reasonable
  costs directly and specifically identifiable for the enforcement of building codes, plus indirect costs charged on
  the same basis as other local government proprietary funds not paying administrative charges as direct
  charges. If indirect costs are waived for any local government proprietary fund, they must also be waived for the
  program established in this section. Indirect charges are limited to the charges that are allowed under federal
  cost accounting principles that are applicable to a local government.
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69th Legislature 2025                                                                                            LC0270.1
          (ii)     reduced if the amount of the fees or charges accumulates above the amount needed to enforce
  building codes for 36 months. The excess must be placed in a reserve account and may be used only for
  building code enforcement. Collection and expenditure of fees and charges must be fully documented.
          (iii)    allocated and remitted to the department, in an amount not to exceed 0.5% of the building fees
  or charges collected, for the building codes education program established in 50-60-116.
          (3)      Each Except as provided in subsection (6), each county, city, or town with a building code
  enforcement program that has been certified under 50-60-302 may, within the area of its jurisdiction:
          (a)      make, amend, and repeal rules for the administration and enforcement of the provisions of this
  section and for the collection of fees and charges related to construction; and
          (b)      prohibit the commencement of construction until a permit has been issued by the building code
  enforcement authority having jurisdiction after a showing of compliance with the requirements of the applicable
  provisions of the state building code or county, city, or town building code or other county, city, or town
  ordinance or resolution that pertains to the proposed construction. A county, city, or town subject to this
  subsection (3) may, as part of its building code or by town ordinance or resolution, adopt voluntary energy
  conservation standards for new construction for the purpose of providing incentives to encourage voluntary
  energy conservation. The incentive-based energy conservation standards adopted may exceed any applicable
  energy conservation standards contained in the state building code. New construction is not required to meet
  local standards that exceed state energy conservation standards unless the building contractor elects to receive
  a local incentive.
          (4)      Each Except as provided in subsection (6), each county, city, or town with a building code
  enforcement program that has been certified under 50-60-302 may perform inspections of buildings that are
  outside its jurisdictional limits, subject to the following conditions:
          (a)      The inspections are requested in writing by the owners or builders of the buildings to be
  inspected.
          (b)      The inspections are not done in lieu of inspections by another county, city, or town that has
  jurisdiction over the buildings to be inspected.
          (c)      (i) The county, city, or town powers of enforcement possessed as a result of building code
  enforcement certification by the department may not be exercised in conjunction with the requested
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69th Legislature 2025                                                                                                LC0270.1
  inspections.
               (ii)   Similar powers of building code enforcement may not be contractually created or required by
  the requester and the inspecting jurisdiction.
               (5)    In situations in which buildings may be annexed into an inspecting city's or town's jurisdiction
  subsequent to a requested inspection, the city or town may not require owners or builders to have duplicative
  inspections of those buildings prior to annexation as a condition precedent to receiving any public services or
  utilities.
               (6)    All public buildings owned or operated by any state agency or state government entity must
  conform to the codes adopted in this part and in parts 4 through 8 of this chapter, and are subject to the
  jurisdiction of the department for purposes of all plan reviews, permitting, and inspections. The state agency or
  state government entity shall provide building plans to affected local government agencies for comment. The
  department shall take into consideration local government comments and ordinances and shall promptly notify
  the local jurisdiction of actions taken and the reasons for those actions. The state agency or state government
  entity shall transmit to the local jurisdiction copies of final, as-built building plans."
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Statutes affected: 
LC Text: 50-60-106