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Fire Code Civil Penalty Policy for Travis County

The Fire Code Penalty Policy and penalty matrix puts into place a system that will better match a Fire Code Civil Penalty with a violation by quantifying various aspects and circumstances of noncompliance. This approach will offer flexibility to the Travis County Fire Marshal’s office, the Travis County Attorney’s Office, and the Commissioners Court to address both common types of violations as well as more serious types of violations.

Calculation of a Civil Penalty - Factors

The first step in determining the base civil penalty involves two factors:

1. The potential for harm to fire safety practices, human health, or to the regulatory program.
2. The extent of deviation from a rule, permit or statutory requirement.
   This incorporates any number of adjustment factors such as:
   1. Actions before the violation
   2. Actions after the violation
   3. History of noncompliance
   4. Economic benefit of noncompliance
   5. Other unique factors

These two considerations (expressed in 8 specific criteria below) determine the seriousness of a violation and are factored into a matrix which yields a numeric rating, corresponding to a specific penalty amount.

The matrix penalty is then multiplied by a number based on the duration of the violation. The resulting figure is the base civil penalty.

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Penalty Calculation - Matrix

Harm and Deviation Criteria Points

Preliminary Penalty Factor Points

NONE (0)   POSSIBLY (1)   PROBABLY (2)   DEFINITELY (3)

Fire Risk? _____ Human Risk? _____ Willful or Knowing Violation? _____ Unresponsive in Correcting Violation? _____ Improper Operation or Maintenance? _____ Failure to obtain necessary permits? _____ Economic Benefit of Noncompliance? _____ History of noncompliance (referrals)? _____

Referrals: 1st=1pt, 2nd=2pt, 3rd+=3pt

Total Rating Points _____

Harm and Deviation Component Penalties

Rating Penalty	1-3 $20.00	4-5 $40.00	6-7 $60.00	8-9 $80.00	10-11 $100.00
Rating Penalty	12-15 $120.00	16-18 $140.00	19-21 160.00	22-23 $180.00	24 $200.00

Last Modified:
Wednesday, June 15, 2011 1:27 PM