By Tim Smith – The Greenville News

The House concurred Tuesday with the Senate’s changes to a bill providing incentives to those who install fire sprinklers, sending the legislation to the governor.

The Senate had passed the bill last week after years of public hearings, committee meetings and negotiations among lawmakers.

“I think it was a surprise to almost everyone that we got a bill here at the end,” Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell said. “It’s one of those last-minute dashes to the finish line.”

Under the bill, property owners installing a fire sprinkler system when not required by law would be eligible for a property tax credit equal to 25 percent of the cost of the system, if the local government approves funding such incentives.

If they do, the state would match the local tax credit with an income tax credit.

The bill also limits utility fees for sprinklers to actual costs and permits churches to display live Christmas trees indoors.

“I think it will do some good,” McConnell said. “I think it will encourage people, and I think it moves us further down the road to try and get them in place.”

The legislation was filed in response to a series of tragic fires involving state residents, including a Greenville hotel fire that killed six, a furniture store fire that killed nine Charleston firefighters and a North Carolina beach house fire that claimed the lives of seven South Carolina college students last October.

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