[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4491 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4491

To provide loans and grants for fire sprinkler retrofitting in nursing 
                              facilities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            December 8, 2005

Mr. Larson of Connecticut (for himself, Mr. King of New York, Mr. Neal 
  of Massachusetts, Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, Mr. Ruppersberger, Mr. 
Rangel, Mr. Wexler, Mr. Payne, Mr. Schwarz of Michigan, Mr. Terry, Mr. 
     Cleaver, Mr. Shimkus, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. English of 
Pennsylvania, and Mr. Gordon) introduced the following bill; which was 
            referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide loans and grants for fire sprinkler retrofitting in nursing 
                              facilities.

    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 ``Nursing Home Fire Safety Act of 
2005''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) On February 26, 2003, a fire at a Hartford, 
        Connecticut, nursing facility without an automatic fire 
        sprinkler system claimed the lives of 16 patients, and on 
        September 27, 2003, a fire at a Nashville, Tennessee, nursing 
        home without an automatic fire sprinkler system claimed the 
        lives of 15 patients.
            (2) The National Fire Protection Association finds no 
        record of a multiple death fire in a nursing facility equipped 
        with an automatic fire sprinkler system.
            (3) An estimated 1.5 million Americans reside in 
        approximately 16,300 nursing facilities nationwide, an 
        estimated 20 to 30 percent of which lack an automatic fire 
        sprinkler system.
            (4) Many nursing facilities lack the financial capital to 
        install sprinklers on their own and must consider closure as an 
        alternative to taking on large loans or other financing options 
        in order to install sprinklers.
            (5) In a July 2004 report, the GAO found that ``the 
        substantial loss of life in the Hartford and Nashville fires 
        could have been reduced or eliminated by the presence of 
        properly functioning automatic sprinkler systems'' and that 
        ``Federal oversight of nursing home compliance with fire safety 
        standards is inadequate''.
            (6) Recognizing that automatic fire sprinkler systems 
        greatly improve the chances of survival for older adults in the 
        event of a fire, the National Fire Protection Association, with 
        the support of the American Health Care Association, the fire 
        safety community, and the nursing facility profession, recently 
        issued the 2006 edition of the Life Safety Code which requires 
        automatic sprinklers in all existing nursing facilities.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) within five years, every nursing facility in America 
        should be equipped with automatic fire sprinklers in order to 
        ensure patient, resident, and staff safety;
            (2) the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) 
        should quickly adopt the 2006 edition of the Life Safety Code, 
        recently issued by the National Fire Protection Association 
        with the support of the nursing home industry, which includes 
        the requirement that all nursing facilities be fully 
        sprinklered; and
            (3) the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in 
        collaboration with the Congress, take into consideration the 
        costs of retrofitting existing nursing home facilities and 
        commit itself to providing facilities with the critical 
        financial resources necessary to ensure the speedy and full 
        installation of life saving sprinkler systems.

SEC. 3. DIRECT LOANS FOR FIRE SPRINKLERS RETROFITS.

    (a) Authority.--Not later than 120 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 
establish a program of direct loans to existing nursing facilities to 
finance the retrofit of the facilities with an automatic fire sprinkler 
system. Such loans shall be made under terms and conditions specified 
by the Secretary.
    (b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $200,000,000 for fiscal year 
2007, $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2008, $75,000,000 for fiscal year 
2009, $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2010, and $25,000,000 for fiscal year 
2011.

SEC. 4. SPRINKLER RETROFIT ASSISTANCE GRANTS.

    (a) Authority.--Not later than 120 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 
establish a program to award grants to nursing facilities for the 
purposes of retrofitting them with an automatic fire sprinkler system. 
Such grants shall be awarded under terms and conditions specified by 
the Secretary.
    (b) Priority.--In awarding grants under this section, the Secretary 
shall give a priority to applications that demonstrate a need or 
hardship. In determining hardship, the Secretary may take into account 
factors such as the number of Medicare and Medicaid patients, the age 
and condition of the facility, and the need for nursing facility beds 
in the community involved.
    (c) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $20,000,000 for each fiscal 
years 2007 through 2011.
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