[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3489 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3489

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 9, 2006

  Mr. Dodd (for himself and Mr. Burr) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, 
                           and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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 
2006''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) An estimated 1,500,000 Americans reside in 
        approximately 16,300 nursing facilities nationwide, an 
        estimated 20 to 30 percent of which lack an automatic fire 
        sprinkler system.
            (2) In a July 2004 report, the Government Accountability 
        Office found that ``the substantial loss of life in [recent 
        nursing home] 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''.
            (3) 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.
            (4) 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 5 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 & 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 & Medicaid Services, in 
        collaboration with Congress, should 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 enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall establish 
a program of direct loans to existing nursing facilities to finance 
retrofitting 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 such sums as may be necessary 
for each of fiscal years 2007 through 2011.

SEC. 4. SPRINKLER RETROFIT ASSISTANCE GRANTS.

    (a) Authority.--Not later than 120 days after the date of 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 residents who are entitled to or enrolled 
in the medicare program under title 18 of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 1395 et seq.) or receiving assistance under the medicaid program 
under title 19 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.), 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 such sums as may be necessary 
for each of fiscal years 2007 through 2011.
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