AG opinion raises questions about state's multi-family sprinkler rule.

Byline: Nate Beck, nbeck@dailyreporter.com

State officials are weighing how a legal opinionrequiring fire sprinklers in apartment buildings could affect how state agencies enforce and adopt new administrative rules.

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, in a legal opinion last fall, rescinded a 2017 opinion from his Republican predecessor, Brad Schimel, that found the Department of Safety and Professional Services had no power to require that contractors install fire sprinklers in multifamily buildings withmore thanfour units.

Although Kaul's opinion backs the agency's fire-sprinklerrules, it mayalso block a legal avenue that's been used to challenge state agencies' authority to draw up administrative rules and enforce them.

At issue is a 2011 law, Act 21, which outlines how state agencies can make new rules without going through the state Legislature. Asked in 2017 to weigh in on DSPS' fire sprinkler rule, Schimel concludedAct 21 meant state agencies were required only to enforce rules explicitly laid out in state statutes, and couldn't make rules that go beyond those limits.

Kaul, in his opinion, came to the opposite conclusion and rescinded Schimel's opinion.

"Attorney General Kaul concluded that(Act 21)does not alter existing, explicit grants of rulemaking authority, regardless of whether the statute could be characterized as broad or "general,'" according to a news release announcing his decision.

The DSPS, for its part,hasn't changed how it is enforcing its sprinkler rules just yet.Jennifer Garrett, a department spokeswoman, said the agency only requires sprinkler systems on buildings with 20 or more units.

"Our legal team is aware of and has been considering Attorney General Kaul's opinion," she said.

The Wisconsin Builders Association has also previously tried challenging the sprinkler rule in court, only to see an appeals court side with the DSPS' authority to require sprinklers on multifamily buildings with four or more units.

Brad Boycks, executive director of the Builders Association said he and his colleagues are "disappointed" in Kaul's opinion rescinding Schimel's sprinkler opinion.

"We do not believe the legislative intent on several laws past over the past few legislative sessions ever envisioned a scenario where very specific state statutes could be overridden when pointing to broad rule making authority written in other sections of the statutes," Boycks said in a statement.

Robert DuPont, of Wisconsin's Alliance for...