II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 512 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to classify automatic fire 

sprinkler systems as 5-year property for purposes of depreciation. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 3, 2005 

Mr. SANTORUM (for himself, Mr. ROCKEFELLER, and Mr. REED) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to classify 

automatic fire sprinkler systems as 5-year property for 

purposes of depreciation. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fire Sprinkler Incen5 tive Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds that— 

8 (1) since the publication of the original study 

9 and comprehensive list of recommendations in Amer-
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1 ica Burning, written in 1974, requested advances in 

2 fire prevention through the installation of automatic 

3 sprinkler systems in existing buildings have yet to be 

4 fully implemented; 

5 (2) fire departments responded to approxi6 mately 1,700,000 fires in 2001; 

7 (3) there were 3,745 non-terrorist related 

8 deaths in the United States and almost 21,000 civil9 ian injuries resulting from fire in 2001; 

10 (4) 99 firefighters were killed in 2001, exclud11 ing the terrorist acts on September 11th; 

12 (5) fire caused $8,900,000,000 in direct prop13 erty damage in 2001, and sprinklers are responsible 

14 for a 43 to 70 percent reduction in property damage 

15 from fires in public assembly, educational, residen16 tial, commercial, industrial and manufacturing build17 ings; 

18 (6) fire departments respond to a fire every 18 

19 seconds, a fire breaks out in a structure every 60 

20 seconds and in a residential structure every 80 sec21 onds in the United States; 

22 (7) the Station Nightclub in West Warwick, 

23 Rhode Island, did not contain an automated sprin24 kler system and burned down, killing 99 people on 

25 February 20, 2003; 
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1 (8) due to an automated sprinkler system, not 

2 a single person was injured from a fire beginning in 

3 the Fine Line Music Cafe ́ in Minneapolis after the 

4 use of pyrotechnics on February 17, 2003; 

5 (9) the National Fire Protection Association 

6 has no record of a fire killing more than 2 people 

7 in a completely sprinklered public assembly, edu8 cational, institutional or residential building where 

9 the system was properly installed and fully oper10 ational; 

11 (10) sprinkler systems dramatically improve the 

12 chances of survival of those who cannot save them13 selves, specifically older adults, young children and 

14 people with disabilities; 

15 (11) the financial cost of upgrading fire counter 

16 measures in buildings built prior to fire safety codes 

17 is prohibitive for most property owners; 

18 (12) many State and local governments lack 

19 any requirements for older structures to contain 

20 automatic sprinkler systems; 

21 (13) under the present straight-line method of 

22 depreciation, there is a disincentive for building safe23 ty improvements due to an extremely low rate of re24 turn on investment; and 
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1 (14) the Nation is in need of incentives for the 

2 voluntary installation and retrofitting of buildings 

3 with automated sprinkler systems to save the lives of 

4 countless individuals and responding firefighters as 

5 well as drastically reduce the costs from property 

6 damage. 

7 SEC. 3. CLASSIFICATION OF AUTOMATIC FIRE SPRINKLER 

8 SYSTEMS. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (B) of section 

10 168(e)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating 

11 to 5-year property) is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

12 end of clause (v), by striking the period at the end of 

13 clause (vi) and inserting ‘‘, and ’’, and by adding at the 

14 end the following: 

15 ‘‘(vii) any automatic fire sprinkler sys16 tem placed in service after the date of the 

17 enactment of this clause in a building 

18 structure which was placed in service be19 fore such date of enactment.’’. 

20 (b) ALTERNATIVE SYSTEM.—The table contained in 

21 section 168(g)(3)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

22 1986 (relating to special rule for certain property assigned 

23 to classes) is amended by inserting after the item relating 

24 to subparagraph (B)(iii) the following: 

‘‘(B)(vii) .................................................................................... 7’’. 
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1 (c) DEFINITION OF AUTOMATIC FIRE SPRINKLER

2 SYSTEM.—Subsection (i) of section 168 of the Internal 

3 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end 

4 the following: 

5 ‘‘(17) AUTOMATED FIRE SPRINKLER SYSTEM.— 

6 The term ‘automated fire sprinkler system’ means 

7 those sprinkler systems classified under one or more 

8 of the following publications of the National Fire 

9 Protection Association— 

10 ‘‘(A) NFPA 13, Installation of Sprinkler 

11 Systems, 

12 ‘‘(B) NFPA 13 D, Installation of Sprin13 kler Systems in One and Two Family Dwellings 

14 and Manufactured Homes, and 

15 ‘‘(C) NFPA 13 R, Installation of Sprinkler 

16 Systems in Residential Occupancies up to and 

17 Including Four Stories in Height.’’. 

18 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

19 this section shall apply to property placed in service after 

20 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

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