Texas uses another model code in place of the IFC

Record of adoption

In force since

Sep 1, 2023

Legal citation

Tex. Gov’t Code §417.008(e) and §417.0081; 28 TAC §34.303; Tex. Local Gov’t Code §§233.061-.062; Tex. Health & Safety Code §775.036(b)

Adopted by

Texas Department of Insurance (State Fire Marshal) for the NFPA inspection standards; municipalities, county commissioners courts and emergency services district boards for local fire codes

Second reading

Agreed Oct 19, 2026

Applies

Based on another model code

Also called

NFPA 1, NFPA 101, 28 TAC §34.303, county fire code (Local Gov’t Code ch. 233)

Texas uses the State Fire Marshal’s NFPA 1 and NFPA 101 standards, 2021 editions, as its statewide default fire code instead of the IFC.

Exceptions

• Where a local government has adopted fire protection ordinances for an area, the State Fire Marshal’s standards do not apply there (Gov’t Code §417.008(e)).
• Counties with more than 250,000 people, and counties adjacent to them, may adopt a fire code for unincorporated areas (commercial establishments, public buildings and multifamily buildings); it must conform to the IFC (or the NFPA Uniform Fire Code) as it existed on May 1, 2005 or exceed it, and the commissioners court may adopt later editions (Local Gov’t Code §§233.061-.062).
• Emergency services district boards may adopt and enforce a fire code that does not conflict with a county fire code, and may not enforce it inside a municipality that has adopted its own; a district wholly within a county of more than 3 million people needs the commissioners court’s consent (Health & Safety Code §775.036(b)).
• Municipalities, counties and emergency services districts may not require fire sprinklers in one- and two-family dwellings, with exceptions (Local Gov’t Code §250.011).

How Texas adopts the IFC

• More than one path
• The legislature sets a default edition

No state agency adopts the IFC. The State Fire Marshal (Texas Department of Insurance) adopts NFPA standards by rule (28 TAC §34.303: NFPA 1-2021 and NFPA 101-2021, effective Sep 1, 2023). They apply where no local government has adopted a fire code. Local fire codes are adopted by cities, by qualifying counties through the commissioners court (statutory floor of the IFC as of May 1, 2005, later editions allowed), and by emergency services district boards. A 2023 bill to move the county floor to 2023 (SB 674) did not advance.

Cycle. Irregular; no statutory schedule. The State Fire Marshal moves its NFPA editions by rule from time to time (2021 editions took effect Sep 1, 2023).

Laws, rulings, and other actions

1. Mar 17, 2023Other action
   TDI State Fire Marshal adopts NFPA 1-2021 and NFPA 101-2021 (28 TAC §34.303)

   Commissioner’s order adopting the 2021 NFPA editions for State Fire Marshal inspections, with the effective date delayed to Sep 1, 2023; this is not an IFC adoption.

2. Feb 17, 2023Legislation
   SB 6742023 regular session, 88th Legislature

   Would have moved the municipal IRC and IBC defaults, the county fire code (IFC) floor, the county IRC reference and the state residential energy code reference to May 1, 2023 editions.

   Failed: referred to Senate Business & Commerce Feb 17, 2023, no later action recorded

   capitol.texas.gov (opens in a new tab)
3. Jun 7, 2021Legislation
   HB 7382021 regular session, 87th Legislature

   Set the municipal default IRC and IBC at their May 1, 2012 editions, required a public hearing and ordinance for local amendments, and added Local Gov’t Code §250.011 barring local fire-sprinkler mandates for one- and two-family dwellings (with exceptions).

   Enacted Jun 7, 2021, effective Jan 1, 2022

   capitol.texas.gov (opens in a new tab)

How it was checked

Verified

Two separate readings of the state’s own record agree, and the passage is on file word for word.

Read twice: a second, blind reading of the state’s record agreed with the first on Oct 19, 2026.

The state’s record was last read on Oct 18, 2026, from eight source pages.

Evidence 13 sources

Sources for the record itself come first, the state’s own records ahead of others. A label marks a source about something else, such as an exception. A source marked secondary is not the state’s own record.

• “standards adopted by rule under this subsection do not apply in a geographic area under the jurisdiction of a local government that has adopted fire protection ordinances”

• “shall periodically inspect public buildings under the charge and control of a state agency”

  “buildings leased for the use of a state agency”

• “The commissioners court of a county with a population of over 250,000”

  “or a county adjacent to a county with a population of over 250,000 may adopt a fire code”

• “2021 Editions of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 101 Life Safety Code and NFPA 1 Fire Code as its standards of inspection”

  “effective date of September 1, 2023.”

• “Commissioner's Order No. 2023-7848”

  “NFPA 1-2021 Fire Code”

  “NFPA Life Safety Code 101-2021”

  “delaying the effective date of the adopted sections until September 1, 2023.”

• “28 TAC §34.303”

  “Issued at Austin, Texas, on March 17, 2023.”

• “Texas law provides a statewide safety backstop. Where a local government has not adopted a fire and life safety code, the standards adopted by the State Fire Marshal apply.”

• “§§34.303, 34.507, 34.607, 34.707”

  “12/9/2022”

  “12/23/2022”

  “3/20/2023”

  “3/31/2023”

  “9/1/2023”

• About an exception

  “applies only to the following buildings constructed in an unincorporated area of the county:”

  “a public building; and”

  “a multifamily residential dwelling”

• About an exception

  “The fire code must:”

  “(A) the International Fire Code, as published by the International Code Council,”

  “as the code existed on May 1, 2005; or”

• About an exception

  “The commissioners court may adopt later editions of a fire code listed in Subsection (c).”

• About an exception

  “may not enact an ordinance, bylaw, order, building code, or rule requiring the installation”

• About an exception

Related pages

• See Texas’s IFC on the map
• IFC adoption in every state
• All six codes in Texas

Other codes in Texas

• NEC2026 NECVerified
• IBC2012 IBCVerified
• IRC2012 IRCVerified
• IECC residential2015 IECCVerified
• IECC commercial2015 IECCVerified