The stakes could not be higher. Once a state makes its building code a mini-max code, it prevents local jurisdictions from amending the code or adopting separate sprinkler ordinances. A building code becomes mini-max because of two elements. The first element is the code itself, which contains the minimum requirements for safe buildings. The second element is the state regulation that adopts a model code as the state code, because that is where the minimum requirements can also become the maximum.
State governments adopt one of the three model building codes.
The other two building codes have similar language. By virtue of its adoption as a statewide code, then, the model code makes its requirements the minimum construction requirements that can be used by local governments. Now the minimum requirements of the building code become the maximum also. For example, section 904.2.9 of the UBC states that sprinklers are required in R-1 apartment houses if they are three or more stories in height or have 16 or more dwelling units. Let's say that a local fire department determines that it is not equipped to handle an apartment fire in a building larger than a two-story fourplex and wants to require sprinklers in anything larger.