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) intro-
duced 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nursing Facility Fire 
Safety Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) On February 26, 2003, a fire at a Hart-
ford, Connecticut, nursing facility without an auto-
matic fire sprinkler system claimed the lives of 16 
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patients, and on September 27, 2003, a fire at a 
Nashville, Tennessee, nursing home without an auto-
matic fire sprinkler system claimed the lives of 15 
patients. 
(2) The National Fire Protection Association 
finds no record of a multiple death fire in a nursing 
facility equipped with an automatic fire sprinkler 
system. 
(3) An estimated 1.5 million Americans reside 
in approximately 16,300 nursing facilities nation-
wide, an estimated 20 to 30 percent of which lack 
an automatic fire sprinkler system. 
(4) Many nursing facilities lack the financial 
capital to install sprinklers on their own and must 
consider closure as an alternative to taking on large 
loans or other financing options in order to install 
sprinklers. 
(5) In a July 2004 report, the GAO found that 
‘‘the substantial loss of life in the Hartford and 
Nashville fires could have been reduced or eliminated 
by the presence of properly functioning automatic 
sprinkler systems’’ and that ‘‘Federal oversight of 
nursing home compliance with fire safety standards 
is inadequate’’. 
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(6) Recognizing that automatic fire sprinkler 
systems greatly improve the chances of survival for 
older adults in the event of a fire, the National Fire 
Protection Association, with the support of the 
American Health Care Association, the fire safety 
community, and the nursing facility profession, re-
cently adopted requirements for automatic sprinklers 
in all existing nursing facilities. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that— 
(1) within five years, every nursing facility in 
America should be equipped with automatic fire 
sprinklers in order to ensure patient, resident, and 
staff safety; and 
(2) the Secretary of Health and Human Serv-
ices (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’), act-
ing through the Administrator of the Centers for 
Medicare & Medicaid Services should— 
(A) adopt a requirement that all nursing 
facilities be fully sprinklered with the support of 
the nursing facility industry; and 
(B) ensure that skilled nursing facilities 
participating in the Medicare program comply 
with fire safety standards, such as those devel-
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oped by the National Fire Protection Associa-
tion in the 2006 Life Safety Code. 
SEC. 3. DIRECT LOANS FOR FIRE SPRINKLERS RETROFITS. 
(a) AUTHORITY.—Not later than 120 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services shall establish a program of direct 
loans to existing nursing facilities to finance the retrofit 
of the facilities with an automatic fire sprinkler system. 
Such loans shall be made under terms and conditions spec-
ified by the Secretary. 
(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 
$200,000,000 for fiscal year 2010, $100,000,000 for fis-
cal year 2011, $75,000,000 for fiscal year 2012, 
$50,000,000 for fiscal year 2013, and $25,000,000 for fis-
cal year 2014. 
SEC. 4. SPRINKLER RETROFIT ASSISTANCE GRANTS. 
(a) AUTHORITY.—Not later than 120 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services shall establish a program to award 
grants to nursing facilities for the purposes of retrofitting 
them with an automatic fire sprinkler system. Such grants 
shall be awarded under terms and conditions specified by 
the Secretary. 
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(b) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec-
tion, the Secretary shall give a priority to applications that 
demonstrate a need or hardship. In determining hardship, 
the Secretary may take into account factors such as the 
number of Medicare and Medicaid patients, the age and 
condition of the facility, and the need for nursing facility 
beds in the community involved. 
(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 
$20,000,000 for each fiscal years 2010 through 2014. 
SEC. 5. CONSULTATION AND EVALUATION OF ALTER-
NATIVES. 
(a) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary of Health and 
Human Services shall consult with the Secretary of Hous-
ing and Urban Development to determine if there are loan 
programs or other funds available for retrofitting nursing 
facilities with an automatic fire sprinkler system in addi-
tion to the loans and grants authorized in this Act. 
(b) EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVE REMEDIAL AC-
TIONS.—The Secretary may evaluate, in unique cir-
cumstances, where a nursing facility may not have an ade-
quate structure to retrofit the entire facility with an auto-
matic fire sprinkler system within a reasonable timeframe. 
In such an instance, the Secretary shall work with rep-
resentatives of the facility to identify other remedial ac-
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tions that may include retrofitting a majority of the facil-
ity with such a system, construction timeframes for a new 
or remodeled facility, or other actions. 
Æ 
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