Relating to municipal regulation of stairway requirements in certain apartment buildings.

SB 2835 permits Texas municipalities to allow apartment buildings with a single stairway, provided they meet strict safety requirements. Buildings must not exceed six stories, have no more than four units per floor, include sprinklers in stairways, feature fireproof walls (two-hour rating for stairway enclosures, one-hour for corridors), and limit exit travel distance to 20 feet from units and 125 feet total. This directly affects new apartment developers and local building codes by setting specific design standards for fire safety. The law gives cities flexibility to adopt these rules while maintaining critical fire egress requirements.