II 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3142 

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 

MARCH 18, 2010 

Mr. LAUTENBERG (for himself and 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 2010’’. 

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. 


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1 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CAMPUS FIRE SAFETY 

2 EDUCATION COMPETITIVE GRANT PROGRAM. 

3 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF GRANT PROGRAM.—From 

4 the amounts appropriated under section 7, the Secretary, 

5 in consultation with the Administrator, shall establish a 

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

7 to eligible entities for— 

8 (1) initiating, expanding, or improving fire safe9 ty education programs at institutions of higher edu10 cation; and 

11 (2) increasing fire safety awareness among stu12 dents enrolled at such institutions, including stu13 dents living in off-campus housing. 

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

15 an eligible entity shall submit an application to the Sec16 retary at such time, in such manner, and containing such 

17 information as the Secretary may require. 

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

19 this Act, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible enti20 ties that plan to use grant funds received under this Act 

21 to initiate, expand, or improve fire safety education pro22 grams that include educational material specifically pre23 pared for students with physical, sensory, or cognitive dis24 abilities. 

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

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


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

2 discretion. 

3 (e) GRANT SIZE.—The Secretary shall ensure that 

4 grants awarded under this Act are of sufficient size and 

5 scope to enable grantees to carry out all required activities 

6 and otherwise meet the purpose of this Act, except that 

7 an eligible entity may not be awarded more than $250,000 

8 per fiscal year under this Act. 

9 (f) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—An eligible entity re10 ceiving a grant under this Act shall provide non-Federal 

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

12 percent of the costs of the activities for which assistance 

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

14 cash or in kind. 

15 (g) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds made 

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

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

18 otherwise be expended to carry out fire safety education 

19 programs. 

20 SEC. 4. REQUIRED USES OF FUNDS. 

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

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

23 initiate, expand, or improve a fire safety education pro24 gram that— 


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

2 institution of higher education, reaches, to the ex3 tent practicable, all students enrolled in the institu4 tion of higher education, including students living 

5 on-campus and off-campus; 

6 (2) is carried out in a manner to ensure max7 imum exposure to, increased awareness of, and effec8 tuate change in behavior with respect to fire safety 

9 by students through— 

10 (A) conducting outreach to students at a 

11 minimum of twice per academic year (at the be12 ginning of the fall and spring semesters, or the 

13 equivalent); and 

14 (B) measures that provide fire safety infor15 mation to any student upon the request of the 

16 student; 

17 (3) includes minimum instruction with respect 

18 to— 

19 (A) awareness of fire behavior; 

20 (B) mechanisms of fire injury and death; 

21 (C) common ignition scenarios; 

22 (D) fire safety systems such as automatic 

23 fire sprinklers; 

24 (E) fire alarms; 

25 (F) fire extinguishers; and 


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1 (G) importance of means of egress; and 

2 (4) includes a mechanism for carrying out the 

3 evaluations described in subsection (b). 

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

5 the end of an eligible entity’s grant period, the eligible en6 tity shall— 

7 (1) conduct an evaluation on the effectiveness 

8 of the program carried out by the entity in increas9 ing awareness or improving fire safety behavior at 

10 such entity; and 

11 (2) prepare and submit to the Secretary a re12 port on the results of the evaluation conducted by 

13 the entity. 

14 SEC. 5. REPORTS. 

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

16 months after the date of receipt of the first report sub17 mitted pursuant to section 4(b)(2) and annually there18 after, the Secretary shall provide to Congress a report that 

19 includes the following: 

20 (1) The number and types of eligible entities re21 ceiving assistance under this Act. 

22 (2) The fire safety education programs being 

23 implemented with assistance under this Act and the 

24 costs of such programs. 


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1 (3) Any other information determined by the 

2 Secretary to be useful in evaluating the overall effec3 tiveness of the program established under this Act in 

4 improving the fire safety knowledge of college stu5 dents. 

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

7 consultation with the Administrator, shall use the infor8 mation provided under subsection (a) to publish a report 

9 of best practices for initiating, expanding, or improving 

10 fire safety education programs that shall be made avail11 able to all institutions of higher education and other inter12 ested parties. 

13 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

14 In this Act: 

15 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis16 trator’’ means the Administrator of the United 

17 States Fire Administration of the Federal Emer18 gency Management Agency. 

19 (2) FIRE SAFETY EDUCATION PROGRAM.—The 

20 term ‘‘fire safety education program’’ means a pro21 gram that provides fire safety and prevention activi22 ties. 

23 (3) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

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


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1 meaning given to such term in section 101 of the 

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

3 (4) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti4 ty’’ means either of the following: 

5 (A) An institution of higher education, in6 cluding an institution of higher education in a 

7 collaborative partnership with— 

8 (i) a nonprofit or fire safety organiza9 tion; 

10 (ii) a public safety department; or 

11 (iii) a social fraternity or sorority ex12 empt from taxation under section 501(a) 

13 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 

14 U.S.C. 501(a)), the active membership of 

15 which consists primarily of students in at16 tendance at the institution of higher edu17 cation. 

18 (B) A consortium of institutions of higher 

19 education located in the same State. 

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

21 the Secretary of Education. 


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1 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

3 this Act $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2011 through 

4 2015. 

Æ 


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