[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 76 (Wednesday, May 19, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H3589-H3591]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HONORABLE STEPHANIE TUBBS JONES COLLEGE FIRE PREVENTION ACT
Ms. FUDGE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(H.R. 2136) to establish the Honorable Stephanie Tubbs Jones Fire
Suppression Demonstration Incentive Program within the Department of
Education to promote installation of fire sprinkler systems, or other
fire suppression or prevention technologies, in qualified student
housing and dormitories, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 2136
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 ``Honorable Stephanie Tubbs
Jones College Fire Prevention Act''.
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE HONORABLE STEPHANIE TUBBS JONES
FIRE SUPPRESSION DEMONSTRATION INCENTIVE
PROGRAM.
(a) Grants.--The Secretary of Education (in this Act
referred to as the ``Secretary''), in consultation with the
United States Fire Administration, shall establish a
demonstration program to award grants on a competitive basis
to eligible entities for the purpose of installing fire
sprinkler systems, or other fire suppression or prevention
technologies, in student housing and dormitories owned or
controlled by such entities.
(b) Eligible Entity.--For purposes of this Act, the term
``eligible entity'' means any of the following:
(1) An institution of higher education (as that term is
defined in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965
(20 U.S.C. 1002)), including an institution eligible to
receive assistance under part A or B of title III or title V
of such Act.
(2) A social fraternity or sorority exempt from taxation
under section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26
U.S.C. 501(a)), the active membership of which consists
primarily of students in attendance at an institution of
higher education (as that term is defined in section 102 of
the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002)).
(c) Selection Priority.--In making grants under subsection
(a), the Secretary shall give priority to eligible entities
that demonstrate the greatest financial need.
(d) Reserved Amounts.--
(1) In general.--Of the amount made available to the
Secretary for grants under this section for each fiscal year,
the Secretary shall award--
(A) not less than 10 percent to eligible entities that are
institutions described in subsection (b)(1) that are eligible
to receive assistance under part A or B of title III or title
V of the Higher Education Act of 1965; and
(B) not less than 10 percent to eligible entities that are
social fraternities and sororities described in subsection
(b)(2).
(2) Plan required.--The Secretary shall develop a plan to
inform entities described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of
paragraph (1) that such entities may be eligible to apply for
grants under this section.
(3) Insufficient applicants.--If the Secretary determines
that there are an insufficient number of qualified applicants
to award the reserved amounts required in accordance with
paragraph (1), the Secretary shall make available the
remainder of such reserved amounts for use by other eligible
entities.
(e) Application.--To seek a grant under this section, an
eligible entity shall submit an application to the Secretary
at such time, in such manner, and accompanied by such
information as the Secretary may require.
(f) Matching Requirement.--As a condition of receipt of a
grant under subsection (a), the applicant shall provide
(directly or through donations from public or private
entities) non-Federal matching funds in an amount equal to
not less than 50 percent of the cost of the activities for
which assistance is sought.
(g) Supplement Not Supplant.--Funds made available under
this program shall be used to supplement, not supplant, other
funds that would otherwise be expended to carry out fire
safety activities.
(h) Limitation on Administrative Expenses.--Not more than 2
percent of a grant made under subsection (a) may be expended
for administrative expenses with respect to the grant.
(i) Reports.--Not later than 12 months after the date of
the first award of a grant under this section and annually
thereafter until completion of the program, the Secretary
shall provide to the Congress a report that includes the
following:
(1) The number and types of eligible entities receiving
assistance under this section.
(2) The amounts of such assistance, the amounts and sources
of non-Federal funding leveraged for activities under grants
under this section, and any other relevant financial
information.
(3) The number and types of student housing fitted with
fire suppression or prevention technologies with assistance
under this section, and the number of students protected by
such technologies.
(4) The types of fire suppression or prevention
technologies installed with assistance under this section,
and the costs of such technologies.
(5) Identification of Federal and State policies that
present impediments to the development and installation of
fire suppression or prevention technologies.
(6) Any other information determined by the Secretary to be
useful to evaluating the overall effectiveness of the program
established under this section in improving the fire safety
of student housing.
(j) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized
to be appropriated to carry out this Act such sums as may be
necessary for each of the fiscal years 2010 through 2012.
SEC. 3. ADMISSIBILITY AS EVIDENCE.
(a) Prohibition.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law and subject to subsection (b), any application for
assistance under this Act, any negative determination on the
part of the Secretary with respect to such application, or
any statement of reasons for the determination, shall not be
admissible as evidence in any proceeding of any court,
agency, board, or other entity.
(b) Exception.--This section does not apply to the
admission of an application, determination, or statement
described in subsection (a) as evidence in a proceeding to
enforce an agreement entered into between the Secretary and
an eligible entity under section 2.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
Ohio (Ms. Fudge) and the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Petri) each will
control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Ohio.
General Leave
Ms. FUDGE. Mr. Speaker, I request 5 legislative days during which
Members may revise and extend and insert extraneous materials on H.R.
2136 into the Record.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Ohio?
There was no objection.
Ms. FUDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2136. I would
like to thank Chairman Miller, Ranking Member Kline, the members of the
Education and Labor Committee, and the 70 Members on both sides of the
aisle who cosponsored this important
[[Page H3590]]
legislation, the Honorable Stephanie Tubbs Jones College Fire
Prevention Act.
During the last 8 years of her career in Congress, the Honorable
Stephanie Tubbs Jones tirelessly advocated for the passage of this
bill. She believed, as I do, that college students must be safeguarded
against house fires. When I was elected to Congress last fall, I
promised myself and the people of the 11th Congressional District of
Ohio that I would use my vote to support policies providing practical
and lasting solutions for the district. This bill does just that. H.R.
2136, the Honorable Stephanie Tubbs Jones College Fire Prevention Act,
supports the installation and management of fire suppression or fire
prevention technologies in student housing, including fraternal houses.
The Act directs the Secretary of Education to make competitive grants
for up to half the cost of installing fire sprinkler systems or other
fire suppression or prevention technologies. The funding would be
disbursed to dormitories at institutions of higher education as well as
fraternity and sorority housing. College students deserve safe housing
with fire prevention systems, regardless of whether they live in
nontraditional student housing, a sorority or fraternity house, or in
dormitories. Fraternal organizations have long played a leading role in
cultivating the social and intellectual well-being of our college
students. We must ensure that these organizations have access to the
necessary resources to protect our youth.
So far this year, there have been six deaths attributed to student
housing fires. Since the year 2000, Ohio alone has suffered 13 student
deaths and 36 related campus incidents due to student housing fires,
according to Campus Firewatch. When fire prevention and sprinkler
systems are present, students' survival rates increase by 97 percent,
and property damage is lowered by 35 percent. Carol Dietz, assistant
vice president of facilities at John Carroll University, which is in my
district, stresses the importance of fire safety measures. John Carroll
is currently planning the implementation of fire fighting technologies
which cost $500,000 for each residence hall. These grants could help us
defray the costs of safeguarding our students.
Once again, I would like to thank the Education and Labor Committee,
the many supporters of this important legislation, and college students
across the Nation who have worked tirelessly to move this legislation
forward. Finally, I am grateful for the vision and compassion of my
friend, the late Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones.
Committee on the Judiciary,
House of Representatives,
Washington, DC, May 6, 2010.
Hon. George Miller,
Chairman, Committee on Education and Labor, House of
Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Miller: In recognition of the desire to
expedite consideration of H.R. 2136, the Honorable Stephanie
Tubbs Jones College Fire Prevention Act, the Committee on the
Judiciary agrees to waive formal consideration of the bill as
to provisions that fall within its rule X jurisdiction.
The Committee takes this action with our mutual
understanding that by foregoing consideration of H.R. 2136 at
this time, it does not waive any jurisdiction over subject
matter contained in this or similar legislation, and that our
Committee will be appropriately consulted and involved as the
bill or similar legislation moves forward, so that we may
address any remaining issues in our jurisdiction. The
Committee also reserves the right to seek appointment of an
appropriate number of conferees to any House-Senate
conference involving this or similar legislation, and
requests your support for any such request.
I would appreciate your including this letter in the
Congressional Record during consideration of the bill on the
House floor.
Thank you for your attention to this matter, and for the
cooperative working relationship between our two committees.
Sincerely,
John Conyers, Jr.,
Chairman.
____
Committee on Education and Labor, House of
Representatives,
Washington, DC, May 6, 2010.
Hon. John Conyers,
Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary, House of
Representatives, Washington. DC.
Dear Chairman Conyers: Thank you for your May 6, 2010,
letter regarding H.R. 2136, the Honorable Stephanie Tubbs
Jones College Fire Prevention Act. Your support for this
legislation and your assistance in ensuring its timely
consideration are greatly appreciated.
I agree that provisions in the bill are within the
jurisdiction of the Committee on the Judiciary. I acknowledge
that by waiving rights to further consideration at this time
of H.R. 2136, your Committee is not relinquishing its
jurisdiction and I will fully support your request to be
represented in a House-Senate conference on those provisions
over which the Committee on the Judiciary has jurisdiction in
H.R. 2136, or similar legislation. A copy of our letters will
he placed in the Congressional Record during, consideration
of the bill on the House floor.
I value your cooperation and look forward to working with
you as we move ahead with this important legislation.
Sincerely,
George Miller,
Chairman.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. PETRI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in support of the bill before us, H.R. 2136, the Honorable
Stephanie Tubbs Jones College Fire Prevention Act. Today we have an
opportunity to discuss the need to bolster safety on college campuses,
specifically fire safety. The name of this bill is appropriate because
there was no Member of this body more concerned about protecting our
college students from the dangers of fires than the late Representative
Stephanie Tubbs Jones. This bill would honor Representative Tubbs Jones
by naming a demonstration program in her honor.
Our Nation's college students should be able to live on campus with
the confidence that they will be safe in their dorms, apartments or
other housing. This measure will take a step toward allowing colleges
to ensure their buildings are properly equipped with the latest fire
safety measures. Specifically, this bill will allow colleges and
universities hoping to participate in the demonstration program to
apply for funds that can be used to install fire sprinkler systems or
other fire suppression or prevention technologies on campus or in
buildings controlled by the university.
This measure, combined with the provisions enacted by Congress in the
Higher Education Opportunity Act, will increase campus fire safety at
colleges and universities. The provisions included in the Higher
Education Opportunity Act require colleges to provide a fire safety
report to the Secretary of Education. The report must include
statistics showing the number of fires and injuries resulting from
fires on campus over the past year. We will also require colleges to
report on the type of fire prevention technologies they are utilizing
and any plans the college may have to improve their fire prevention and
detection technologies. The bill before us today will help colleges
think creatively about fire safety and ensure they have the funds to
move forward with their plans.
Today we have the opportunity to provide a commitment to the safety
of college students and pass a measure that will help colleges keep our
young people safe from devastating fires. I urge my colleagues to
support the bill before us.
I understand the majority has no further requests for time, so I
yield such time as she may consume to my colleague from West Virginia,
the Honorable Representative Shelley Moore Capito.
Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman and
gentlewoman for bringing this bill forth. I stand today in support of
H.R. 2136, the Honorable Stephanie Tubbs Jones College Fire Prevention
Act. I had the pleasure of serving with Congresswoman Tubbs Jones. She
was a wonderful effervescent Member of our House. She was a very strong
advocate for campus fire prevention, and she is greatly missed. But we
are thinking about her today.
You know, every parent expects when they send their child off to
college that they will be sending them to be protected and to be safe.
For the most part, that is true, but unfortunately, that's not always
the case. In 2007, a fire broke out in a 64-unit apartment building
which was privately owned near Marshall University in Huntington, West
Virginia. It housed a number of students from Marshall. Nine people
were killed in that fire, including one student who attended Marshall
University and two of his siblings who were visiting him there. I was
astonished to learn that there was no sprinkler system in the building,
and several of the apartments didn't have smoke detectors.
Each year, unfortunately, college and university students on- and
off-campus
[[Page H3591]]
experience hundreds of fire emergencies. Overall, most college-related
fires are due to a general lack of knowledge about fire safety and
prevention and also the lack of updating fire prevention equipment into
the buildings. A lot of the buildings are older and were not equipped
with sprinklers and other fire detection methods. This bill goes a long
way, I think, to try to help solve that problem.
The great majority of student fire deaths occur in off-campus housing
with insufficient exits and missing or inoperative smoke alarms or
automatic fire sprinklers. These are deaths that can and should be
prevented. H.R. 2136, would extend Stephanie Tubbs Jones' legacy by
providing grants to institutions of higher education, fraternities and
sororities to cover up to half the cost of installing fire sprinkler
systems and other fire suppression or prevention technologies in
student housing and in dormitories.
With that, I would like to thank the sponsors of the bill, and I urge
the passage of this legislation.
Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R.
2136, the Stephanie Tubbs Jones College Fire Prevention Act. This bill
represents an opportunity to improve critical fire safety systems in
college facilities across the country.
The issue of campus fire safety became personal for me after a tragic
fire swept through a dorm at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New
Jersey, in 2000. The blaze took the lives of three students and injured
58 more. Since that terrible day, thousands of fires have cut short the
lives of 135 students throughout the country. The sad reality is that
that many of those deaths could have been averted with proper fire
safety equipment.
The Stephanie Tubbs Jones College Fire Prevention Act will direct the
Secretary of Education to provide grants to institutions of higher
education toward the installation of sprinklers and other fire
prevention systems in student housing and dorms. This essential funding
can make the difference in fire emergencies between life and death. No
college student should have to live in a building without appropriate
fire safeguards.
My home State of New Jersey has been at the forefront of this issue
for many years now, mandating sprinkler systems be installed in all on-
campus housing facilities at universities in the State. This
legislation will enable institutions of higher education in other
States to take similar steps to provide security and peace of mind to
students and parents--that they will have these basic safety devices to
protect them in the event of an emergency.
This bill gives special attention to colleges and universities that
need funding most, and gives priority to institutions that demonstrate
the greatest financial need. This key provision will help ensure that
fire safety technology is not off limits to schools because of
financial constraints. I believe we owe it to those students to ensure
that each and every college dorm is outfitted with the most
comprehensive fire prevention technology available. The Stephanie Tubbs
Jones College Fire Prevention Act will provide great assistance in
achieving this goal.
In considering this legislation, we should also remember its
namesake--the late Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones. I had the
privilege of working closely with Stephanie on critical public safety
legislation, and will always remember her as a staunch advocate of
life-saving fire prevention.
We are gaining ground in the battle to prevent these deadly college
fires, but we must be mindful of the work that remains. The House has
recognized September as Campus Fire Safety Month, which every year has
helped to raise awareness of this critical issue. With the Stephanie
Tubbs Jones College Fire Prevention Act, we have the opportunity to
provide colleges with the funding they need to install lifesaving fire
safety technology and come one step closer to extinguishing the threat
of college fires once and for all.
I strongly support H.R. 2136, and call on this body to soon pass my
legislation, H.R. 4908, the Campus Fire Safety Education Act of 2010,
which will help deliver a life saving campus fire safety education
curriculum to our Nation's colleges. I will continue to work tirelessly
to make our colleges and universities a safe environment for our
Nation's students.
Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my former colleague
Stephanie Tubbs Jones and to address a cause she championed for much of
her career in the Congress. Campus safety is a very complex and
important issue. We must protect students as they walk home from their
late night studies and we must protect them when they arrive in their
dorms or other forms of campus housing.
Our college and universities are more open now than they have been
and serve more students than they were originally planned to serve.
Often times, housing buildings are the oldest buildings on a campus.
This is especially the case for fraternity and sorority housing. The
Stephanie Tubbs Jones College Fire Prevention Act addresses the problem
many colleges and universities face with housing and fire safety.
Mr. Speaker, what made Congresswoman Tubbs Jones such an effective
Member of Congress was her keen ability to see a need and fill it. This
bill carries her name and does just that. I am proud to be a cosponsor
of this bill and urge its passage.
Mr. PETRI. I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the
balance of my time.
Ms. FUDGE. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for their support, and
I urge support of H.R. 2136.
I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Fudge) that the House suspend the rules and
pass the bill, H.R. 2136.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________