Plan Review of Lighting for Commercial Buildings in Wisconsin

reposted here from Safety & Buildings website:
Wisconsin Safety and Buildings Announcement
January 29, 2009

Subject: Reemphasis on commercial buildings general lighting plans and about submittal of emergency lighting plans.

General lighting and emergency lighting will receive more emphasis during commercial buildings plan reviews by Safety and Buildings Division staff effective March 2, 2009. The Wisconsin Commercial Building Code has included requirements for illumination and electrical energy efficiency since 1980.
S&B has been flexible over time about requesting submittal and approval of lighting design plans and calculations. At times division staff have asked for more lighting information than at other times. Whether submitted for review or not, lighting code compliance has been necessary. S&B will renew review of general lighting plans because of concerns that compliance with recent energy efficiency code changes has not been demonstrated.
In March of 2008, substantial emergency lighting and lighting energy efficiency changes occurred; some of the energy efficiency factors have become 30 - 40 percent more stringent. With our nation's and state's focus on building lifetime energy usage, the building lighting designs need to be clearly recognized as consequential.The specific aspect of plan review of emergency lighting plans, important to the safety of occupants and first responders, comes from field observations that some emergency lighting installations are not meeting code requirements. The fact that emergency lighting is often installed late in construction, even after partial occupancy of a building, may have led to less-than-necessary coordination of egress paths and emergency lighting design and installation.
Beginning March 2, 2009, submittal of general lighting plans and emergency lighting plans will be required by the Safety and Buildings Division for plan reviews for: - New buildings; - Additions to buildings;- Initial tenant build-outs within buildings for which initial plans were received on or after March 2.
For plans received on or after March 2, 2009, if S&B commercial building plan reviewers find general lighting and emergency lighting plans have not been submitted for review with the initial building plan review, the reviewers will contact the designer with the option of the designer providing lighting plans as part of the immediate review. If the designer chooses to not do so, the general lighting plan and emergency lighting plan can be submitted later, before installation, for separate plan review.
Fees for the plan reviews are not increased:- For general lighting or emergency lighting plans submitted with building or HVAC plans, there will be no additional fee. (Overall fee calculated per code, Comm 2.31.)
For lighting plans submitted separate from building or HVAC plans, the fee will be the current $75 revision plus the $100 submittal fee, a total of $175. (Per Comm 2.31(1)(f).)
For submittal of plans after construction, the standard late submittal fee of $250 will be assessed, as well as the $100 submittal fee, for a total of $350. (Per Comm 2.31(1)(d)6.)
See the S&B WebSite for general lighting and emergency lighting code and submittal information.