I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1642 

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

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 19, 2009 

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut (for himself and Mr. KING of New York) 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. 

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 ‘‘Nursing Facility Fire 

5 Safety Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) On February 26, 2003, a fire at a Hart9 ford, Connecticut, nursing facility without an auto10 matic fire sprinkler system claimed the lives of 16 


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1 patients, and on September 27, 2003, a fire at a 

2 Nashville, Tennessee, nursing home without an auto3 matic fire sprinkler system claimed the lives of 15 

4 patients. 

5 (2) The National Fire Protection Association 

6 finds no record of a multiple death fire in a nursing 

7 facility equipped with an automatic fire sprinkler 

8 system. 

9 (3) An estimated 1.5 million Americans reside 

10 in approximately 16,300 nursing facilities nation11 wide, an estimated 20 to 30 percent of which lack 

12 an automatic fire sprinkler system. 

13 (4) Many nursing facilities lack the financial 

14 capital to install sprinklers on their own and must 

15 consider closure as an alternative to taking on large 

16 loans or other financing options in order to install 

17 sprinklers. 

18 (5) In a July 2004 report, the GAO found that 

19 ‘‘the substantial loss of life in the Hartford and 

20 Nashville fires could have been reduced or eliminated 

21 by the presence of properly functioning automatic 

22 sprinkler systems’’ and that ‘‘Federal oversight of 

23 nursing home compliance with fire safety standards 

24 is inadequate’’. 


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1 (6) Recognizing that automatic fire sprinkler 

2 systems greatly improve the chances of survival for 

3 older adults in the event of a fire, the National Fire 

4 Protection Association, with the support of the 

5 American Health Care Association, the fire safety 

6 community, and the nursing facility profession, re7 cently adopted requirements for automatic sprinklers 

8 in all existing nursing facilities. 

9 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con10 gress that— 

11 (1) within five years, every nursing facility in 

12 America should be equipped with automatic fire 

13 sprinklers in order to ensure patient, resident, and 

14 staff safety; and 

15 (2) the Secretary of Health and Human Serv16 ices (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’), act17 ing through the Administrator of the Centers for 

18 Medicare & Medicaid Services should— 

19 (A) adopt a requirement that all nursing 

20 facilities be fully sprinklered with the support of 

21 the nursing facility industry; and 

22 (B) ensure that skilled nursing facilities 

23 participating in the Medicare program comply 

24 with fire safety standards, such as those develVerDate Nov 24 2008 23:11 Mar 20, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1642.IH H1642

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1 oped by the National Fire Protection Associa2 tion in the 2006 Life Safety Code. 

3 SEC. 3. DIRECT LOANS FOR FIRE SPRINKLERS RETROFITS. 

4 (a) AUTHORITY.—Not later than 120 days after the 

5 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health 

6 and Human Services shall establish a program of direct 

7 loans to existing nursing facilities to finance the retrofit 

8 of the facilities with an automatic fire sprinkler system. 

9 Such loans shall be made under terms and conditions spec10 ified by the Secretary. 

11 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

12 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

13 $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2010, $100,000,000 for fis14 cal year 2011, $75,000,000 for fiscal year 2012, 

15 $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2013, and $25,000,000 for fis16 cal year 2014. 

17 SEC. 4. SPRINKLER RETROFIT ASSISTANCE GRANTS. 

18 (a) AUTHORITY.—Not later than 120 days after the 

19 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health 

20 and Human Services shall establish a program to award 

21 grants to nursing facilities for the purposes of retrofitting 

22 them with an automatic fire sprinkler system. Such grants 

23 shall be awarded under terms and conditions specified by 

24 the Secretary. 


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1 (b) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec2 tion, the Secretary shall give a priority to applications that 

3 demonstrate a need or hardship. In determining hardship, 

4 the Secretary may take into account factors such as the 

5 number of Medicare and Medicaid patients, the age and 

6 condition of the facility, and the need for nursing facility 

7 beds in the community involved. 

8 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

9 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

10 $20,000,000 for each fiscal years 2010 through 2014. 

11 SEC. 5. CONSULTATION AND EVALUATION OF ALTER12 NATIVES. 

13 (a) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary of Health and 

14 Human Services shall consult with the Secretary of Hous15 ing and Urban Development to determine if there are loan 

16 programs or other funds available for retrofitting nursing 

17 facilities with an automatic fire sprinkler system in addi18 tion to the loans and grants authorized in this Act. 

19 (b) EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVE REMEDIAL AC20 TIONS.—The Secretary may evaluate, in unique cir21 cumstances, where a nursing facility may not have an ade22 quate structure to retrofit the entire facility with an auto23 matic fire sprinkler system within a reasonable timeframe. 

24 In such an instance, the Secretary shall work with rep25 resentatives of the facility to identify other remedial acVerDate Nov 24 2008 23:11 Mar 20, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1642.IH H1642

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1 tions that may include retrofitting a majority of the facil2 ity with such a system, construction timeframes for a new 

3 or remodeled facility, or other actions. 

Æ 


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