Office of the Revisor of Statutes
Minnesota Session Laws - 1995, Regular Session
Key: (1) language to be deleted (2) new language
CHAPTER 166-S.F.No. 870
An act relating to elevator safety; changing
responsibility for certain administrative and
enforcement activities; changing certain exemptions;
imposing penalties; amending Minnesota Statutes 1994,
sections 16B.61, subdivisions 1 and 1a; 16B.72;
16B.73; 183.351, subdivisions 2 and 5; 183.353;
183.354; 183.355, subdivisions 1, 3, and by adding a
subdivision; 183.357, subdivisions 1 and 3; 183.358;
and 326.244, subdivision 5; proposing coding for new
law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 183.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:
Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 16B.61,
subdivision 1, is amended to read:
Subdivision 1. [ADOPTION OF CODE.] Subject to sections
16B.59 to 16B.73 16B.75, the commissioner shall by rule
establish a code of standards for the construction,
reconstruction, alteration, and repair of state-owned buildings,
governing matters of structural materials, design and
construction, fire protection, health, sanitation, and safety.
The code must conform insofar as practicable to model building
codes generally accepted and in use throughout the United
States. In the preparation of the code, consideration must be
given to the existing statewide specialty codes presently in use
in the state. Model codes with necessary modifications and
statewide specialty codes may be adopted by reference. The code
must be based on the application of scientific principles,
approved tests, and professional judgment. To the extent
possible, the code must be adopted in terms of desired results
instead of the means of achieving those results, avoiding
wherever possible the incorporation of specifications of
particular methods or materials. To that end the code must
encourage the use of new methods and new materials. Except as
otherwise provided in sections 16B.59 to 16B.73 16B.75, the
commissioner shall administer and enforce the provisions of
those sections.
Sec. 2. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 16B.61,
subdivision 1a, is amended to read:
Subd. 1a. [ADMINISTRATION BY COMMISSIONER.] The
commissioner shall administer and enforce the state building
code as a municipality with respect to public buildings and
state licensed facilities in the state. The commissioner shall
establish appropriate permit, plan review, and inspection fees
for public buildings and state licensed facilities. Fees and
surcharges for public buildings and state licensed facilities
must be remitted to the commissioner, who shall deposit them in
the state treasury for credit to the special revenue fund.
Municipalities other than the state having a contractual
agreement with the commissioner for code administration and
enforcement service for public buildings and state licensed
facilities shall charge their customary fees, including
surcharge, to be paid directly to the contractual jurisdiction
by the applicant seeking authorization to construct a public
building or a state licensed facility. The commissioner shall
contract with a municipality other than the state for plan
review, code administration, and code enforcement service for
public buildings and state licensed facilities in the
contractual jurisdiction if the building officials of the
municipality meet the requirements of section 16B.65 and wish to
provide those services and if the commissioner determines that
the municipality has enough adequately trained and qualified
building inspectors to provide those services for the
construction project.
The commissioner shall administer and enforce the
provisions of the code relating to elevators statewide, except
as provided for under section 183.357, subdivision 3.
Sec. 3. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 16B.72, is
amended to read:
16B.72 [REFERENDA ON STATE BUILDING CODE IN NONMETROPOLITAN
COUNTIES.]
Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary,
a county that is not a metropolitan county as defined by section
473.121, subdivision 4, may provide, by a vote of the majority
of its electors residing outside of municipalities that have
adopted the state building code before January 1, 1977, that no
part of the state building code except the building requirements
for handicapped persons and the requirements for elevator safety
applies within its jurisdiction.
The county board may submit to the voters at a regular or
special election the question of adopting the building code.
The county board shall submit the question to the voters if it
receives a petition for the question signed by a number of
voters equal to at least five percent of those voting in the
last general election. The question on the ballot must be
stated substantially as follows:
"Shall the state building code be adopted in ..........
County?"
If the majority of the votes cast on the proposition is in
the negative, the state building code does not apply in the
subject county, outside home rule charter or statutory cities or
towns that adopted the building code before January 1, 1977,
except the building requirements for handicapped persons and the
requirements for elevator safety do apply.
Nothing in this section precludes a municipality that did
not adopt the state building code before January 1, 1977, from
adopting and enforcing by ordinance or other legal means the
state building code within its jurisdiction.
Sec. 4. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 16B.73, is
amended to read:
16B.73 [STATE BUILDING CODE IN MUNICIPALITIES UNDER 2,500;
LOCAL OPTION.]
The governing body of a municipality whose population is
less than 2,500 may provide that the state building code, except
the requirements for handicapped persons and the requirements
for elevator safety, will not apply within the jurisdiction of
the municipality, if the municipality is located in whole or in
part within a county exempted from its application under section
16B.72. If more than one municipality has jurisdiction over an
area, the state building code continues to apply unless all
municipalities having jurisdiction over the area have provided
that the state building code, except the requirements for
handicapped persons and the requirements for elevator safety,
does not apply within their respective jurisdictions. Nothing
in this section precludes a municipality from adopting and
enforcing by ordinance or other legal means the state building
code within its jurisdiction.
Sec. 5. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 183.351,
subdivision 2, is amended to read:
Subd. 2. [PASSENGER OR FREIGHT ELEVATOR.] "Passenger or
freight elevator shall mean" means all elevators except those
that comply with the safety rules of the department of labor and
industry administration relating to construction and
installation and that have automatic operation or continuous
pressure operation.
Sec. 6. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 183.351,
subdivision 5, is amended to read:
Subd. 5. [ELEVATOR.] As used in this chapter, "elevator"
means moving walks and vertical transportation devices such as
escalators, passenger elevators, freight elevators, dumbwaiters,
handpowered elevators, endless belt lifts, and wheelchair
platform lifts, but does not include external temporary material
lifts, or temporary construction personnel elevators at sites of
construction of new or remodeled buildings, or elevators in
owner-occupied buildings of no more than four living units.
Sec. 7. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 183.353, is
amended to read:
183.353 [LICENSING AUTHORITIES.]
Any city municipality may by ordinance establish a
licensing authority with jurisdiction over all passenger and
freight elevators within such city municipality, fix the initial
and renewal fee for, and the period of duration of, licenses to
operate such elevators, and setting forth the requirements for
applicants for and the terms and conditions of licenses to
operate such elevators.
Sec. 8. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 183.354, is
amended to read:
183.354 [ELEVATORS, ENTRANCES SEALED.]
It shall be the duty of the department of labor and
industry administration and the licensing authority of any
city municipality which adopts any such ordinance whenever it
finds any such elevator under its jurisdiction in use in
violation of any provision of sections 183.351 to 183.355 to
seal the entrances of such elevator and attach a notice
forbidding the use of such elevator until the provisions thereof
are complied with.
Sec. 9. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 183.355,
subdivision 1, is amended to read:
Subdivision 1. [REMOVAL OF SEAL.] No person, firm, or
corporation may remove any seal or notice forbidding the use of
an elevator, except by authority of the department of labor and
industry administration or the licensing authority having
jurisdiction over the elevator, or operate an elevator after a
notice has been attached forbidding its use, unless the notice
has been removed by authority of the department of labor and
industry administration or the licensing authority having
jurisdiction over the elevator.
Sec. 10. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 183.355,
subdivision 3, is amended to read:
Subd. 3. [MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS.] No person, firm, or
corporation may construct, install, alter, remove, or repair an
elevator that does not meet the minimum requirements of this
chapter, adopted rules, or national codes adopted by rule.
Sec. 11. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 183.355, is
amended by adding a subdivision to read:
Subd. 4. [PENALTIES.] The commissioner of administration
shall administer sections 183.022 to 183.359. In addition to
the remedies provided for violations of this chapter, the
commissioner may impose a penalty of up to $1,000 for a
violation of any provision of sections 183.022 to 183.359.
Sec. 12. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 183.357,
subdivision 1, is amended to read:
Subdivision 1. [PERMITS.] No person, firm, or corporation
may construct or, install, alter, or remove an elevator without
first filing an application for a permit with the department
of labor and industry administration or a municipality
authorized by subdivision 3 to inspect elevators. Projects
under actual construction before July 1, 1989, are not required
to obtain a permit from the department. Upon successfully
completing inspection and the payment of the appropriate fee,
the owner must be granted an operating permit for the elevator.
Sec. 13. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 183.357,
subdivision 3, is amended to read:
Subd. 3. [PERMISSIVE MUNICIPAL REGULATION.] A municipality
that conducts a system of elevator inspection on a periodic
basis in conformity with this chapter, state building code
requirements, and adopted rules, and that employs or contracts
with inspectors meeting the minimum requirements established by
rule, may provide for the inspection of elevator installation,
repair, alteration, removal, construction, and the periodic
routine inspection of elevators. A municipality may not adopt
standards that do not conform to the uniform standards
prescribed by the department.
If a municipality does not conduct elevator inspections as
provided in this chapter, or if the commissioner determines that
a municipality is not properly administering and enforcing the
law, rules, and codes, the commissioner shall have the
inspection, administration, and enforcement undertaken by a
qualified inspector employed by the department.
Sec. 14. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 183.358, is
amended to read:
183.358 [RULES.]
The commissioner may adopt rules for the following purposes:
(1) to set a fee under section 16A.128 for processing a
construction or installation permit or elevator contractor
license application;
(2) to set a fee under section 16A.128 to cover the cost of
elevator inspections;
(3) to establish minimum qualifications for elevator
inspectors that must include possession of a current journeyman
elevator constructor electrician's license issued by the state
board of electricity and proof of successful completion of the
national elevator construction mechanic industry education
program examination or equivalent experience;
(4) to establish criteria for the qualifications of
elevator contractors;
(5) to establish elevator standards under sections 16B.61,
subdivisions 1 and 2, and 16B.64; and
(6) to establish procedures for appeals of decisions of the
commissioner under chapter 14 and procedures allowing the
commissioner, before issuing a decision, to seek advice from the
elevator trade, building owners or managers, and others
knowledgeable in the installation, construction, and repair of
elevators; and
(7) to establish requirements for the registration of all
elevators.
Sec. 15. [183.359] [CONFLICT OF LAWS.]
Nothing in sections 183.022 to 183.359 supersedes the
Minnesota electrical act in chapter 326.
Sec. 16. Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 326.244,
subdivision 5, is amended to read:
Subd. 5. [EXEMPTIONS FROM INSPECTIONS.] Installations,
materials, or equipment shall not be subject to inspection under
sections 326.241 to 326.248:
1. (1) when owned or leased, operated and maintained by any
employer whose maintenance electricians are exempt from
licensing under sections 326.241 to 326.248, while performing
electrical maintenance work only as defined by board rule; or
2. (2) when owned or leased, and operated and maintained by
any electric, communications or railway utility or telephone
company in the exercise of its utility or telephone function;
and
(i) are used exclusively for the generations,
transformation, distribution, transmission, or metering of
electric current, or the operation of railway signals, or the
transmission of intelligence, and do not have as a principal
function the consumption or use of electric current by or for
the benefit of any person other than such utility or telephone
company; and
(ii) are generally accessible only to employees of such
utility or telephone company or persons acting under its control
or direction; and
(iii) are not on the load side of the meter; or
3. (3) when used in the street lighting operations of an
electric utility; or
4. (4) when used as outdoor area lights which are owned and
operated by an electric utility and which are connected directly
to its distribution system and located upon the utility's
distribution poles, and which are generally accessible only to
employees of such utility or persons acting under its control or
direction; or
5. (5) when the installation, material, and equipment are
alarm or communication systems laid out, installed, or
maintained within residential units not larger than a duplex; or
6. (6) when the installation, material, and equipment are
in facilities subject to the jurisdiction of the federal Mine
Safety and Health Act.; or
(7) when the installation, material, and equipment is part
of an elevator installation for which the elevator contractor,
licensed under section 326.242, is required to obtain a permit
from the authority having jurisdiction as provided by section
183.357, and the inspection has been or will be performed by an
elevator inspector certified by the department of administration
and licensed by the board of electricity. This exemption shall
apply only to installations, material, and equipment permitted
or required to be connected on the load side of the
disconnecting means required for elevator equipment under
National Electric Code Article 620, and elevator communications
and alarm systems within the machine room, car, hoistway, or
elevator lobby.
Sec. 17. [RENUMBERING INSTRUCTION.]
The revisor shall renumber the sections of Minnesota
Statutes in column A with the corresponding numbers in column B
and correct references to those sections in Minnesota Statutes
and Minnesota Rules.
A B
183.351 16B.74
183.022 16B.741
183.352 16B.742
183.353 16B.743
183.354 16B.744
183.355 16B.745
183.356 16B.746
183.357 16B.747
183.358 16B.748
183.359 16B.749
Presented to the governor May 12, 1995
Signed by the governor May 15, 1995, 10:00 a.m.
Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes