II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 246 

To authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants to support fire 

safety education programs on college campuses. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 30, 2017 

Mr. MENENDEZ introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants 

to support fire safety education programs on college campuses. 

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 Education Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

7 The purpose of this Act is to help provide fire safety 

8 education and training to students attending institutions 

9 of higher education. 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 246 IS

1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis4 trator’’ means the Administrator of the United 

5 States Fire Administration of the Federal Emer6 gency Management Agency. 

7 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti8 ty’’ means an institution of higher education, or a 

9 consortium of institutions of higher education lo10 cated in the same State, in a collaborative partner11 ship with a nonprofit organization or a public safety 

12 department. Such a collaborative partnership may 

13 also include a social fraternity or sorority exempt 

14 from taxation under section 501(a) of the Internal 

15 Revenue Code of 1986, the active membership of 

16 which consists primarily of students enrolled at the 

17 institution or institutions. 

18 (3) FIRE SAFETY EDUCATION PROGRAM.—The 

19 term ‘‘fire safety education program’’ means a pro20 gram that provides fire safety and prevention activi21 ties. 

22 (4) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

23 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 

24 meaning given to such term in section 101 of the 

25 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 246 IS

1 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

2 the Secretary of Education. 

3 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CAMPUS FIRE SAFETY 

4 EDUCATION COMPETITIVE GRANT PROGRAM. 

5 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF GRANT PROGRAM.—From 

6 the amounts appropriated under section 7, the Secretary, 

7 in consultation with the Administrator, shall establish a 

8 grant program to award grants, on a competitive basis, 

9 to eligible entities for— 

10 (1) initiating, expanding, or improving fire safe11 ty education programs at institutions of higher edu12 cation; and 

13 (2) increasing fire safety awareness among stu14 dents enrolled at such institutions, including stu15 dents living in off-campus housing. 

16 (b) APPLICATION.—To seek a grant under this Act, 

17 an eligible entity shall submit an application to the Sec18 retary at such time, in such manner, and containing such 

19 information as the Secretary may require. 

20 (c) SELECTION PRIORITY.—In making grants under 

21 this Act, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible enti22 ties that plan to use grant funds to initiate, expand, or 

23 improve fire safety education programs that include edu24 cational material specifically prepared for students with 

25 physical, sensory, or cognitive disabilities. 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 246 IS

1 (d) GRANT PERIOD.—Grants under this Act shall be 

2 awarded for not longer than a 2-year period, and may be 

3 renewed for an additional 2-year period, at the Secretary’s 

4 discretion. 

5 (e) GRANT SIZE.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

7 the Secretary shall ensure that grants awarded 

8 under this Act are of sufficient size and scope to en9 able eligible entities to carry out all required activi10 ties and otherwise meet the purpose of this Act. 

11 (2) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—An eligible entity may 

12 not be awarded more than $250,000 per fiscal year 

13 under this Act. 

14 (f) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—An eligible entity re15 ceiving a grant under this Act shall provide non-Federal 

16 matching funds in an amount equal to not less than 25 

17 percent of the costs of the activities for which assistance 

18 is sought. Such non-Federal matching funds may be in 

19 cash or in-kind. 

20 (g) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds made 

21 available under this Act shall be used to supplement, not 

22 supplant, other Federal, State, or private funds that would 

23 otherwise be expended to carry out fire safety education 

24 programs. 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 246 IS

1 SEC. 5. REQUIRED USES OF FUNDS. 

2 (a) REQUIRED USES OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity 

3 receiving a grant under this Act shall use grant funds to 

4 initiate, expand, or improve a fire safety education pro5 gram that— 

6 (1) in the case of an eligible entity that is an 

7 institution of higher education, reaches, to the ex8 tent practicable, all students enrolled in the institu9 tion of higher education, including students living on 

10 campus and off campus; 

11 (2) is carried out in a manner to ensure max12 imum exposure to, increase awareness of, and effec13 tuate change in behavior with respect to fire safety 

14 by students through— 

15 (A) conducting outreach to students at a 

16 minimum of twice per academic year (at the be17 ginning of the fall and spring semesters, or the 

18 equivalent); and 

19 (B) measures that provide fire safety infor20 mation to any student upon the request of the 

21 student; 

22 (3) includes minimum instruction with respect 

23 to— 

24 (A) awareness of fire behavior; 

25 (B) mechanisms of fire injury and death; 

26 (C) common ignition scenarios; 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 246 IS

1 (D) fire safety systems such as automatic 

2 fire sprinklers; 

3 (E) fire alarms; 

4 (F) fire extinguishers; 

5 (G) importance of means of egress; 

6 (H) fire prevention techniques that may 

7 prevent a fire from occurring (such as candle 

8 safety, cooking safety, and smoking safety); and 

9 (I) fire safety actions to be taken if a fire 

10 occurs to minimize the potential for death, in11 jury, and property damage (such as knowing 

12 how to use a fire extinguisher, how to put out 

13 a cooking fire, calling 911, and evacuating); 

14 and 

15 (4) includes a mechanism for carrying out the 

16 evaluations described in subsection (b). 

17 (b) EVALUATIONS.—Not later than 6 months after 

18 the end of an eligible entity’s grant period, the eligible en19 tity shall— 

20 (1) conduct an evaluation on the effectiveness 

21 of the program carried out by the eligible entity in 

22 increasing awareness or improving fire safety behav23 ior at such eligible entity; and 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 246 IS

1 (2) prepare and submit to the Secretary a re2 port on the results of the evaluation conducted by 

3 the entity. 

4 SEC. 6. REPORTS. 

5 (a) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 12 

6 months after the date of receipt of the first report sub7 mitted pursuant to section 5(b)(2) and annually there8 after, the Secretary shall provide to Congress a report that 

9 includes the following: 

10 (1) The number and types of eligible entities re11 ceiving assistance under this Act. 

12 (2) The fire safety education programs being 

13 implemented with assistance under this Act and the 

14 costs of such programs. 

15 (3) Any other information determined by the 

16 Secretary to be useful in evaluating the overall effec17 tiveness of the program established under this Act in 

18 improving the fire safety knowledge of college stu19 dents. 

20 (b) BEST PRACTICES REPORT.—The Secretary, in 

21 consultation with the Administrator, shall use the infor22 mation provided under subsection (a) to publish a report 

23 of best practices for initiating, expanding, or improving 

24 fire safety education programs that shall be made availVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:15 Feb 03, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S246.IS S246

SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 246 IS

1 able to all institutions of higher education and other inter2 ested parties. 

3 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

4 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

5 this Act $15,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2018 

6 through 2022. 

Æ 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS