Congressman James Langevin (R.I. D-Dist.2) announced yesterday in time for today’s tenth year anniversary of the Station Night Club fire, the reintroduction of legislation that would promote the use of automatic sprinklers. It would hopefully prevent future tragedies.
The bill entitled The Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act 2013 is intended to encourage small and medium sized businesses to install automatic sprinkler systems.
Tax incentives
According to the advocacy group Common Voices, the legislation would have tax incentives included in it. In their most recent update on the legislation, Common Voices reported that the legislation would make fire sprinklers a “179 property” under the current I.R.S. tax code. Currently only “certain types of equipment purchases like machines, equipment, vehicles, and computers qualify” for tax deductions, with the passage of the bill, small and medium sized businesses would potentially be able to qualify for a tax deduction.
Congressman Langevin’s renewed legislation would allow for small and medium sized businesses to “fully expense the cost of a sprinkler retrofit for structures as large as 50,000 square feet.”
The Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act has been introduced into the last five Congressional terms but it has never made it out of committee.
