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326.37 RULES; AGREEMENTS WITH MUNICIPALITIES; CAPACITY STANDARDS;
LICENSE EXEMPTION.
    Subdivision 1. Rules. The Plumbing Board may, by rule, prescribe minimum standards
which shall be uniform and which shall be effective for all new plumbing installations, including
additions, extensions, alterations, and replacements connected with any water or sewage disposal
system owned or operated by or for any municipality, institution, factory, office building, hotel,
apartment building, or any other place of business regardless of location or the population
of the city or town in which the installation is to be located. Notwithstanding the provisions
of Minnesota Rules, part 4715.3130, as they apply to review of plans and specifications, the
commissioner may allow plumbing construction, alteration, or extension to proceed without
approval of the plans or specifications by the commissioner.
    Except for powers granted to the Plumbing Board, the commissioner of labor and industry
shall administer the provisions of sections 326.361 to 326.44 and for such purposes may employ
plumbing inspectors and other assistants.
    Subd. 1a. Agreements with municipalities. The commissioner may enter into an agreement
with a municipality, in which the municipality agrees to perform plan and specification reviews
required to be performed by the commissioner under Minnesota Rules, part 4715.3130, if:
    (a) the municipality has adopted:
    (1) the plumbing code;
    (2) an ordinance that requires plumbing plans and specifications to be submitted to, reviewed,
and approved by the municipality, except as provided in paragraph (h);
    (3) an ordinance that authorizes the municipality to perform inspections required by the
plumbing code; and
    (4) an ordinance that authorizes the municipality to enforce the plumbing code in its entirety,
except as provided in paragraph (p);
    (b) the municipality agrees to review plumbing plans and specifications for all construction
for which the plumbing code requires the review of plumbing plans and specifications, except as
provided in paragraph (n);
    (c) the municipality agrees that, when it reviews plumbing plans and specifications under
paragraph (b), the review will:
    (1) reflect the degree to which the plans and specifications affect the public health and
conform to the provisions of the plumbing code;
    (2) ensure that there is no physical connection between water supply systems that are safe for
domestic use and those that are unsafe for domestic use; and
    (3) ensure that there is no apparatus through which unsafe water may be discharged or
drawn into a safe water supply system;
    (d) the municipality agrees to perform all inspections required by the plumbing code in
connection with projects for which the municipality reviews plumbing plans and specifications
under paragraph (b);
    (e) the commissioner determines that the individuals who will conduct the inspections and
the plumbing plan and specification reviews for the municipality do not have any conflict of
interest in conducting the inspections and the plan and specification reviews;
    (f) individuals who will conduct the plumbing plan and specification reviews for the
municipality are:
    (1) licensed master plumbers;
    (2) licensed professional engineers; or
    (3) individuals who are working under the supervision of a licensed professional engineer
or licensed master plumber and who are licensed master or journeyman plumbers or hold a
postsecondary degree in engineering;
    (g) individuals who will conduct the plumbing plan and specification reviews for the
municipality have passed a competency assessment required by the commissioner to assess the
individual's competency at reviewing plumbing plans and specifications;
    (h) individuals who will conduct the plumbing inspections for the municipality are licensed
master or journeyman plumbers, or inspectors meeting the competency requirements established
in rules adopted under section 16B.655;
    (i) the municipality agrees to enforce in its entirety the plumbing code on all projects, except
as provided in paragraph (p);
    (j) the municipality agrees to keep official records of all documents received, including
plans, specifications, surveys, and plot plans, and of all plan reviews, permits and certificates
issued, reports of inspections, and notices issued in connection with plumbing inspections and the
review of plumbing plans and specifications;
    (k) the municipality agrees to maintain the records described in paragraph (j) in the official
records of the municipality for the period required for the retention of public records under
section 138.17, and shall make these records readily available for review at the request of the
commissioner;
    (l) the municipality and the commissioner agree that if at any time during the agreement the
municipality does not have in effect the plumbing code or any of ordinances described in item
(a), or if the commissioner determines that the municipality is not properly administering and
enforcing the plumbing code or is otherwise not complying with the agreement:
    (1) the commissioner may, effective 14 days after the municipality's receipt of written notice,
terminate the agreement;
    (2) the municipality may challenge the termination in a contested case before the
commissioner pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act; and
    (3) while any challenge is pending under item (2), the commissioner shall perform plan and
specification reviews within the municipality under Minnesota Rules, part 4715.3130;
    (m) the municipality and the commissioner agree that the municipality may terminate the
agreement with or without cause on 90 days' written notice to the commissioner;
    (n) the municipality and the commissioner agree that the municipality shall forward to the
state for review all plumbing plans and specifications for the following types of projects within
the municipality:
    (1) hospitals, nursing homes, supervised living facilities, and similar health-care-related
facilities regulated by the Minnesota Department of Health;
    (2) buildings owned by the federal or state government; and
    (3) projects of a special nature for which department review is requested by either the
municipality or the state;
    (o) where the municipality forwards to the state for review plumbing plans and specifications,
as provided in paragraph (n), the municipality shall not collect any fee for plan review, and the
commissioner shall collect all applicable fees for plan review; and
    (p) no municipality shall revoke, suspend, or place restrictions on any plumbing license
issued by the state.
    Subd. 1b. Existing agreements with municipalities. Any agreement between the
commissioner and a municipality in which the municipality has agreed to perform plan and
specification reviews required to be performed by the commissioner under Minnesota Rules, part
4715.3130, that is in effect on December 1, 2007, shall remain in effect and shall not be required to
be in compliance with subdivision 1a. If any agreement to perform plan and specification reviews
required to be performed by the commissioner under Minnesota Rules, part 4715.3130, in effect on
December 1, 2007, is later terminated by operation of the terms of the agreement or by either the
commissioner or the municipality, or expires, then any new agreement between the commissioner
and the municipality to perform plan and specification reviews required to be performed by the
commissioner under Minnesota Rules, part 4715.3130, shall comply with subdivision 1a.
    Subd. 2. Standards for capacity. All new floor-mounted water closets in areas under
jurisdiction of the plumbing code may not have a flush volume of more than 1.6 gallons. The
water closets must meet the standards in the plumbing code and the standards of the American
National Standards Institute.
    Subd. 3. Exemption. No license or registration authorized by sections 326.361 to 326.44
shall be required of any individual engaged in or employed by a person engaged in the work or
business of pipe laying outside of buildings if such individual or employer is engaged in a business
or trade which has traditionally performed such work within the state prior to January 1, 1994.
    Subd. 4. Air admittance valves and water-free urinals prohibited. (a) Mechanical devices
and fittings with internal moving parts are prohibited from installation in plumbing venting
systems.
    (b) All urinals covered under the jurisdiction of the State Plumbing Code must have a water
flush device with a volume of not more than one gallon per use.
History: (5887-19) 1933 c 349 s 1; 1937 c 370 s 1; 1973 c 123 art 5 s 7; 1975 c 136 s 66;
1977 c 305 s 45; 1990 c 597 s 57; 1993 c 206 s 20; 1996 c 439 art 4 s 1; 1997 c 203 art 2 s 28;
2007 c 135 art 3 s 19,20; 2007 c 140 art 6 s 4

Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes