College Fire Prevention Act

College Fire Prevention Act - Authorizes appropriations for competitive grants to help provide fire sprinkler systems in student housing and dormitories.

Authorizes the Secretary of Education to award such grants to States, private or public colleges or universities, fraternities, or sororities to assist them in providing such systems.

Requires grant recipients to provide matching funds equal to at least one-half of project costs.

Directs the Comptroller General to gather, and report to Congress, data on the number of college and university housing facilities and dormitories that have and do not have fire sprinkler systems and other forms of built-in fire protection mechanisms.

[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2100 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

  2d Session
                                S. 2100

To provide for fire sprinkler systems in public and private college and 
 university housing and dormitories, including fraternity and sorority 
                        housing and dormitories.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 24, 2000

     Mr. Edwards (for himself, Mr. Lautenberg, and Mr. Torricelli) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
          Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for fire sprinkler systems in public and private college and 
 university housing and dormitories, including fraternity and sorority 
                        housing and dormitories.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``College Fire Prevention Act''.

SEC 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) On Wednesday, January 19, 2000, a fire occurred at a 
        Seton Hall University dormitory. Three male freshmen, all 18 
        years of age, died. Fifty-four students, 2 South Orange 
        firefighters, and 2 South Orange police officers were injured. 
        The dormitory was a 6-story, 350-room structure built in 1952, 
        that housed approximately 600 students. It was equipped with 
        smoke alarms but no fire sprinkler system.
            (2) On Mother's Day 1996 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, a 
        fire in the Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity House killed 5 college 
        juniors and injured 3. The 3-story plus basement fraternity 
        house was 70 years old. The National Fire Protection 
        Association identified several factors that contributed to the 
        tragic fire, including the lack of fire sprinkler protection.
            (3) It is estimated that in a typical year between 1980 and 
        1997, there were an average of 1,800 fires at dormitories, 
        fraternities, and sororities, involving 1 death, 69 injuries, 
        and $8,100,000 in property damage.
            (4) Within dormitories the number 1 cause of fires is arson 
        or suspected arson. The second leading cause of college 
        building fires is cooking, while the third leading cause is 
        smoking.
            (5) The National Fire Protection Association has no record 
        of a fire killing more than 2 people in a completely fire 
        sprinklered public assembly, educational, institutional, or 
        residential building where the sprinkler system was operating 
        properly.
            (6) New dormitories are generally required to have advanced 
        safety systems such as fire sprinklers. But such requirements 
        are rarely imposed retroactively on existing buildings.
            (7) In 1997, over 90 percent of the campus building fires 
        reported to fire departments occurred in buildings where there 
        were smoke alarms present. However, only 28 percent had fire 
        sprinklers present.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act 
$100,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2001 through 2005.

SEC. 4. GRANTS AUTHORIZED.

    (a) Program Authority.--The Secretary of Education, in consultation 
with the United States Fire Administration, is authorized to award 
grants, on a competitive basis, to States, private or public colleges 
or universities, fraternities, or sororities to assist them in 
providing fire sprinkler systems for their student housing and 
dormitories.
    (b) Matching Funds Requirement.--The Secretary of Education may not 
award a grant under this section unless the entity receiving the grant 
provides, from State, local, or private sources, matching funds in an 
amount equal to not less than one-half of the cost of the activities 
for which assistance is sought.

SEC. 5. PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) Award Basis.--In awarding grants under this Act the Secretary 
of Education shall take into consideration various fire safety factors 
and conditions that the Secretary determines appropriate.
    (b) Limitation on Administrative Expenses.--An entity that receives 
a grant under this Act shall not use more than 4 percent of the grant 
funds for administrative expenses.

SEC. 6. DATA AND REPORT.

    The Comptroller General shall--
            (1) gather data on the number of college and university 
        housing facilities and dormitories that have and do not have 
        fire sprinkler systems and other forms of built-in fire 
        protection mechanisms; and
            (2) report such data to Congress.
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