II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 354 

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

to campus buildings, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 22, 2007 

Mr. LAUTENBERG (for himself, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. KERRY, and Mr. BIDEN) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

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 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF FIRE SAFETY OF CAMPUS BUILD7 INGS. 

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

9 U.S.C. 1092) is amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (a)(1)— 

2 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub3 paragraph (N); 

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

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

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

7 subparagraph: 

8 ‘‘(P) the fire safety report prepared by the in9 stitution pursuant to subsection (h).’’; and 

10 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub11 section: 

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

13 MEASURES.— 

14 ‘‘(1) ANNUAL FIRE SAFETY REPORTS RE15 QUIRED.—Each eligible institution participating in 

16 any program under this title shall, beginning in the 

17 first academic year that begins after the date of en18 actment of the Campus Fire Safety Right-to-Know 

19 Act of 2007, and each year thereafter— 

20 ‘‘(A) prepare, publish, and distribute, 

21 through appropriate publications (including the 

22 Internet) or mailings, to all current students 

23 and employees, and to any applicant for enroll24 ment or employment upon request, an annual 

25 fire safety report, which shall contain informaVerDate Aug 31 2005 18:10 Jan 23, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S354.IS S354

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1 tion with respect to the campus fire safety prac2 tices and standards of that institution, includ3 ing— 

4 ‘‘(i) a statement that identifies each 

5 student housing facility owned or con6 trolled by the institution, and whether each 

7 such facility is equipped with a full fire 

8 sprinkler system or other fire safety sys9 tems, fire escape planning or protocols, or 

10 both; 

11 ‘‘(ii) statistics for each student hous12 ing facility concerning the occurrence of 

13 fires and unwanted and false alarms in 

14 each such facility, during the 2 preceding 

15 calendar years for which data are avail16 able; 

17 ‘‘(iii) for each such occurrence in fa18 cilities described in clauses (i) and (ii), a 

19 summary of the human injuries or deaths, 

20 structural and property damage, or com21 bination thereof; 

22 ‘‘(iv) information regarding rules on 

23 portable electrical appliances, smoking and 

24 open flames (such as candles), regular 

25 mandatory supervised fire drills, and 


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1 planned and future improvements in fire 

2 safety; and 

3 ‘‘(v) information about fire safety edu4 cation and training provided to students, 

5 faculty, and staff; and 

6 ‘‘(B) submit to the Secretary a copy of the 

7 statistics required to be made available under 

8 subparagraph (A)(ii). 

9 ‘‘(2) FRATERNITIES, SORORITIES, AND OTHER

10 STUDENT GROUPS THAT OWN, CONTROL, OR OCCUPY

11 HOUSING FACILITIES.— 

12 ‘‘(A) REPORTS BY ORGANIZING BODIES.— 

13 Each institution participating in a program 

14 under this title shall, as a condition of recog15 nizing and permitting the operation of any fra16 ternity, sorority, or other student group that is 

17 recognized by the institution and that owns, 

18 controls, or occupies student housing facilities, 

19 require the national organizing body of such 

20 fraternity, sorority, or other student group, be21 ginning in the first academic year that begins 

22 after the date of enactment of the Campus Fire 

23 Safety Right-to-Know Act of 2007, and each 

24 year thereafter— 


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1 ‘‘(i) to collect the information de2 scribed in subparagraph (A), for each 

3 building and property that contains stu4 dent housing facilities and that is owned, 

5 controlled, or occupied by the fraternity, 

6 sorority, or group, respectively; 

7 ‘‘(ii) beginning in the first academic 

8 year that begins after the date of enact9 ment of the Campus Fire Safety Right-to10 Know Act of 2007, and each year there11 after, to prepare, publish, and distribute, 

12 through appropriate publications (including 

13 the Internet) or mailings to all current 

14 members, and to any interested party upon 

15 request, an annual fire safety report in ac16 cordance with subparagraph (B) of this 

17 paragraph; and 

18 ‘‘(iii) to submit to the Secretary a 

19 copy of the statistics described in para20 graph (1)(A)(ii) and required to be col21 lected under clause (i) of this subpara22 graph. 

23 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS OF ANNUAL REPORTS.— 

24 The annual fire safety reports required under 


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1 subparagraph (A)(ii) of this paragraph shall 

2 contain the following: 

3 ‘‘(i) Information concerning fire safety 

4 at any student housing facilities owned or 

5 controlled by the recognized fraternity, so6 rority, or other student group required to 

7 be collected under subparagraph (A)(i) of 

8 this paragraph. 

9 ‘‘(ii) A statement concerning whether 

10 and how the recognized fraternity, sorority, 

11 or other student group owning, controlling, 

12 or occupying student housing facilities 

13 works with hosting academic institutions to 

14 make buildings and property owned or con15 trolled by such fraternities, sororities, or 

16 student groups more fire safe. 

17 ‘‘(3) CURRENT INFORMATION TO CAMPUS COM18 MUNITY.—Each institution participating in any pro19 gram under this title shall make, keep, and maintain 

20 a log, written in a form that can be easily under21 stood, recording all on-campus fires, including the 

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

23 and all unwanted and false fire alarms. All entries 

24 that are required pursuant to this paragraph shall, 

25 except where disclosure of such information is proVerDate Aug 31 2005 18:10 Jan 23, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S354.IS S354

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1 hibited by law, be open to public inspection, and 

2 each such institution shall make annual reports to 

3 the campus community on such fires and unwanted 

4 and false fire alarms in a manner that will aid the 

5 prevention of similar occurrences. 

6 ‘‘(4) RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SECRETARY.— 

7 The Secretary shall— 

8 ‘‘(A) review the statistics submitted under 

9 paragraph (1)(B) and paragraph (2)(A)(iii); 

10 ‘‘(B) make such statistics submitted to the 

11 Secretary available to the public; and 

12 ‘‘(C) in coordination with nationally recog13 nized fire organizations and representatives of 

14 institutions of higher education, identify exem15 plary fire safety policies, procedures, programs, 

16 and practices and disseminate information to 

17 the Administrator of the United States Fire 

18 Administration and make available to the public 

19 information concerning those policies, proce20 dures, programs, and practices that have prov21 en effective in the reduction of campus fires. 

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

23 this subsection shall be construed to authorize the 

24 Secretary to require particular policies, procedures, 

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1 cation with respect to fire safety, other than with re2 spect to the collection, reporting, and dissemination 

3 of information required by this subsection. 

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

5 term ‘campus’ has the meaning provided in sub6 section (f)(6).’’. 

7 SEC. 3. REPORT TO CONGRESS BY SECRETARY OF EDU8 CATION. 

9 Not later than two years after the date of enactment 

10 of this Act, the Secretary of Education shall prepare and 

11 submit to Congress a report containing— 

12 (1) an analysis of the status of fire safety sys13 tems in institutions of higher education (as that 

14 term is defined in section 102 of the Higher Edu15 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002)), including 

16 sprinkler systems; 

17 (2) an analysis of the appropriate fire safety 

18 standards to apply to these facilities, which the Sec19 retary shall prepare after consultation with such fire 

20 safety experts, representatives of institutions of 

21 higher education, and other Federal agencies as the 

22 Secretary, in the Secretary’s discretion, considers 

23 appropriate; 


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1 (3) an estimate of the cost of bringing all non2 conforming student housing facilities up to the 

3 building codes in effect at the time of the report; 

4 (4) recommendations from the Secretary con5 cerning the best means of meeting fire safety stand6 ards in all institutions of higher education, including 

7 recommendations for methods to fund the cost de8 scribed in paragraph (3); and 

9 (5) examples of exemplary fire safety education 

10 and training programs at institutions of higher edu11 cation and recommendations for wide adoption of 

12 similar programs among institutions of higher edu13 cation. 

Æ 


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