I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2637 

To provide for disclosure of fire safety standards and measures with respect 

to campus buildings, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 25, 2005 

Mr. PASCRELL (for himself, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. WELDON of 

Pennsylvania, Mr. PETRI, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. 

LAHOOD, Mr. BROWN of South Carolina, Mr. WALSH, Mr. WHITFIELD, 

Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. 

SKELTON, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. ANDREWS, Mrs. MCCARTHY, Mr. OWENS, 

Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. HOLT, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. 

CAPUANO, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. CLAY, Mr. HOLDEN, 

Mr. KUCINICH, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr. GRIJALVA, and Mrs. MALONEY) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To provide for disclosure of fire safety standards and measures with respect to campus buildings, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Campus Fire Safety 

5 Right-to-Know Act of 2005’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF FIRE SAFETY OF CAMPUS BUILD2 INGS. 

3 Section 485 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

4 U.S.C. 1092) is amended— 

5 (1) in subsection (a)(1)— 

6 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub7 paragraph (N); 

8 (B) by striking the period at the end of 

9 subparagraph (O) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

10 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

11 subparagraph: 

12 ‘‘(P) the fire safety report prepared by the in13 stitution pursuant to subsection (h).’’; and 

14 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub15 section: 

16 ‘‘(h) DISCLOSURE OF FIRE SAFETY STANDARDS AND

17 MEASURES.— 

18 ‘‘(1) ANNUAL FIRE SAFETY REPORTS RE19 QUIRED.—Each eligible institution participating in 

20 any program under this title shall, beginning in the 

21 first academic year that begins after the date of en22 actment of the Campus Fire Safety Right-to-Know 

23 Act of 2005, and each year thereafter, prepare, pub24 lish, and distribute, through appropriate publications 

25 (including the Internet) or mailings, to all current 

26 students and employees, and to any applicant for en-
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1 rollment or employment upon request, an annual fire 

2 safety report. Such reports shall contain at least the 

3 following information with respect to the campus fire 

4 safety practices and standards of that institution: 

5 ‘‘(A) A statement that identifies each uni6 versity owned or controlled student housing fa7 cility, and whether or not that facility is 

8 equipped with a fire sprinkler system or other 

9 fire safety systems, fire escape planning or pro10 tocols, or both. 

11 ‘‘(B) Statistics for each student housing 

12 facility concerning the occurrence of fires and 

13 false alarms in each facility, during the 2 pre14 ceding calendar years for which data are avail15 able. 

16 ‘‘(C) For each such occurrence in facilities 

17 described in subparagraphs (A) and (B), a sum18 mary of the human injuries or deaths, struc19 tural and property damage, or combination 

20 thereof. 

21 ‘‘(D) Information regarding rules on port22 able electrical appliances, smoking and open 

23 flames (such as candles), regular mandatory su24 pervised fire drills, and planned and future im25 provements in fire safety. 
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1 ‘‘(E) Information about fire safety edu2 cation and training provided to students, fac3 ulty, and staff. 

4 ‘‘(F) Information concerning fire safety at 

5 any housing facilities owned or controlled by 

6 student groups that are recognized by the insti7 tution, including any student fraternity and so8 rority houses, including— 

9 ‘‘(i) information reported to the insti10 tution under paragraph (4); and 

11 ‘‘(ii) a statement concerning whether 

12 and how the institution works with recog13 nized student fraternities and sororities, 

14 and other recognized student groups own15 ing housing facilities, to make building and 

16 property owned or controlled by such fra17 ternities or sororities more fire safe. 

18 ‘‘(2) FRATERNITIES AND SORORITIES.—Each 

19 institution participating in a program under this 

20 title shall request each fraternity and sorority that 

21 is recognized by the institution, and any other stu22 dent group that is recognized by the university and 

23 that owns or controls housing facilities, to collect 

24 and report to the institution the information de25 scribed in subparagraphs (A) through (E) of para-
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1 graph (1), as applied to the fraternity, sorority, or 

2 recognized student group, for each building and 

3 property owned or controlled by the fraternity, so4 rority, or group respectively. 

5 ‘‘(3) CURRENT INFORMATION TO CAMPUS COM6 MUNITY.—Each institution participating in any pro7 gram under this title shall make, keep, and maintain 

8 a log, written in a form that can be easily under9 stood, recording all on-campus fires, including the 

10 nature, date, time, and general location of each fire 

11 and all false fire alarms. All entries that are re12 quired pursuant to this paragraph shall, except 

13 where disclosure of such information is prohibited by 

14 law, be open to public inspection, and each such in15 stitution shall make annual reports to the campus 

16 community on such fires and false fire alarms in a 

17 manner that will aid the prevention of similar occur18 rences. 

19 ‘‘(4) REPORTS TO SECRETARY.—On an annual 

20 basis, each institution participating in any program 

21 under this title shall submit to the Secretary a copy 

22 of the statistics required to be made available under 

23 paragraph (1)(B). The Secretary shall— 

24 ‘‘(A) review such statistics; 
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1 ‘‘(B) make copies of the statistics sub2 mitted to the Secretary available to the public; 

3 and 

4 ‘‘(C) in coordination with nationally recog5 nized fire organizations and representatives of 

6 institutions of higher education, identify exem7 plary fire safety policies, procedures, and prac8 tices and disseminate information concerning 

9 those policies, procedures, and practices that 

10 have proven effective in the reduction of cam11 pus fires. 

12 ‘‘(5) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

13 this subsection shall be construed to authorize the 

14 Secretary to require particular policies, procedures, 

15 or practices by institutions of higher education with 

16 respect to fire safety. 

17 ‘‘(6) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the 

18 term ‘campus’ has the meaning provided in sub19 section (f)(6).’’. 

20 SEC. 3. REPORT TO CONGRESS BY SECRETARY OF EDU21 CATION. 

22 Within two years after the date of enactment of this 

23 Act, the Secretary of Education shall prepare and submit 

24 to the Congress a report containing— 
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1 (1) an analysis of the current status of fire 

2 safety systems in college and university facilities, in3 cluding sprinkler systems; 

4 (2) an analysis of the appropriate fire safety 

5 standards to apply to these facilities, which the Sec6 retary shall prepare after consultation with such fire 

7 safety experts, representatives of institutions of 

8 higher education, and other Federal agencies as the 

9 Secretary, in the Secretary’s discretion, considers 

10 appropriate; 

11 (3) an estimate of the cost of bringing all non12 conforming student housing facilities up to current 

13 building codes; and 

14 (4) recommendations from the Secretary con15 cerning the best means of meeting fire safety stand16 ards in all college facilities, including recommenda17 tions for methods to fund such cost. 

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