II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3561 

To require owners of covered federally assisted rental dwelling units to install 

temperature sensors in such units, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 2, 2022 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To require owners of covered federally assisted rental dwelling units to install temperature sensors in such units, 

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 ‘‘Housing Temperature 

5 Safety Act of 2022’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TEMPERATURE SENSORS. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 

8 (1) ASSISTANCE.—The term ‘‘assistance’’— 


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1 (A) means any grant, loan, subsidy, con2 tract, cooperative agreement, or other form of 

3 financial assistance; and 

4 (B) does not include the insurance or guar5 antee of a loan, mortgage, or pool of loans or 

6 mortgages. 

7 (2) COVERED FEDERALLY ASSISTED RENTAL

8 DWELLING UNIT.—The term ‘‘covered federally as9 sisted rental dwelling unit’’ means a residential 

10 dwelling unit that is made available for rental and 

11 for which assistance is provided, or that is part of 

12 a housing project for which assistance is provided, 

13 under— 

14 (A) the public housing program under the 

15 United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 

16 1437 et seq.); 

17 (B) the programs for rental assistance 

18 under section 8 of the United States Housing 

19 Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f), including— 

20 (i) the program for project-based rent21 al assistance; and 

22 (ii) the program for tenant-based 

23 rental assistance; 

24 (C) the AIDS Housing Opportunities pro25 gram under subtitle D of title VIII of the CranVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:09 Feb 03, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3561.IS S3561

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1 ston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act 

2 (42 U.S.C. 12901 et seq.); 

3 (D) the program for supportive housing for 

4 the elderly under section 202 of the Housing 

5 Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 1701q); 

6 (E) the program for supportive housing for 

7 persons with disabilities under section 811 of 

8 the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable 

9 Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 8013); or 

10 (F) the programs under sections 514, 515, 

11 and 516 of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 

12 1484, 1485, 1486). 

13 (3) OWNER.—The term ‘‘owner’’ means, with 

14 respect to a covered federally assisted rental dwelling 

15 unit, any private person or entity, including a coop16 erative, an agency of the Federal Government, or a 

17 public housing agency, having the legal right to lease 

18 or sublease the dwelling unit. 

19 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

20 the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 

21 (5) TEMPERATURE SENSOR.—The term ‘‘tem22 perature sensor’’ means an internet capable tem23 perature reporting device able to track the ambient 

24 air temperature to the tenth degree Fahrenheit and 

25 Celsius. 


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1 (b) INSTALLATION AND MAINTENANCE.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

3 the date of enactment of this Act, each owner of a 

4 covered federally assisted rental dwelling unit shall 

5 ensure that each temperature sensor in the covered 

6 federally assisted rental dwelling unit is installed 

7 and maintained in accordance with the rule issued 

8 by the Secretary under paragraph (2) on each level 

9 of the covered federally assisted rental dwelling unit. 

10 (2) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 180 days 

11 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec12 retary shall issue a rule that establishes standards 

13 and requirements for the installation and mainte14 nance of temperature sensors in covered federally as15 sisted rental dwelling units. 

16 (c) DATA REPORTING.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each owner of a covered 

18 federally assisted rental dwelling unit shall, 6 times 

19 each day, collect data from temperature sensors in20 stalled pursuant to subsection (b), which shall in21 clude— 

22 (A) the temperature recorded during each 

23 temperature reading; and 

24 (B) the time and date of each temperature 

25 reading. 


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1 (2) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 180 days after 

2 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

3 shall publish guidance with respect to— 

4 (A) the collection of temperature sensor 

5 data by owners of covered federally assisted 

6 rental dwelling units, including the protection of 

7 personally identifiable information; 

8 (B) the retention of the data described in 

9 subparagraph (A) by owners of covered feder10 ally assisted rental dwelling units for not less 

11 than 2 years; and 

12 (C) the reporting of the data described in 

13 subparagraph (A) to the Secretary unless a ten14 ant of the covered federally assisted dwelling 

15 unit has opted out of having that data reported 

16 by the owner to the Secretary. 

17 (d) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

18 of the enactment of this Act, and each year thereafter, 

19 the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report that— 

20 (1) describes the status of the implementation 

21 of subsection (b), and includes— 

22 (A) the percentage of covered federally as23 sisted dwelling units without a temperature sen24 sor pursuant to subsection (b); 


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1 (B) the percentage of temperature sensors 

2 that have been installed by owners of covered 

3 federally assisted dwelling units; and 

4 (C) the number of fatalities that occurred 

5 due to fire, hypothermia, heat exhaustion, and 

6 other temperature-related causes in covered fed7 erally assisted dwelling units and whether a 

8 temperature sensor was present in the dwelling 

9 unit; and 

10 (2) discloses the results of data collection insti11 tuted by the Secretary before the date of enactment 

12 of this Act to determine the prevalence of tempera13 ture sensors in covered federally assisted dwelling 

14 units. 

15 (e) RELATION TO STATE LAW.— 

16 (1) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this 

17 section shall be construed to annul, alter, or affect, 

18 or exempt any person subject to the provisions of 

19 this section from complying with, the laws of any 

20 State with respect to installing or maintaining tem21 perature sensors, except to the extent that those 

22 laws are inconsistent with any provision of this sec23 tion, and then only to the extent of the inconsist24 ency. 


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1 (2) DETERMINATION OF INCONSISTENCIES.— 

2 The Secretary is authorized to determine whether 

3 the inconsistencies described in paragraph (1) exist 

4 and may not determine that any State law is incon5 sistent with any provision of this section if the Sec6 retary determines that the State law provides for 

7 greater protection or safety. 

8 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

9 authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary 

10 to carry out this Act. 

Æ 


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