Public Housing Fire Safety Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2638 To establish a grant program to provide amounts to public housing agencies to install automatic sprinkler systems in public housing, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 16, 2021 Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN (for herself, Mr. RUTHERFORD, Ms. OMAR, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. BOWMAN, Ms. BUSH, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. CA´RDENAS, and Mr. CARSON) introduced the following bill; which was re- ferred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To establish a grant program to provide amounts to public housing agencies to install automatic sprinkler systems in public housing, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Public Housing Fire 4 Safety Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act— 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Jun 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2638.IH H2638 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2638 IH (1) the term ‘‘automatic sprinkler system’’ has 1 the meaning given the term in section 31(a) of the 2 Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 3 (15 U.S.C. 2227(a)); 4 (2) the term ‘‘Capital Fund’’ means the Capital 5 Fund established under section 9(d) of the United 6 States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437g(d)); 7 (3) the term ‘‘exempted public housing project’’ 8 means a public housing project that— 9 (A) is not a newly constructed multifamily 10 property, as defined in section 31(c)(2)(A)(ii) of 11 the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 12 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2227(c)(2)(A)(ii)); and 13 (B) is not subject to the requirements 14 under section 31(c) of the Federal Fire Preven- 15 tion and Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 16 2227(c)); 17 (4) the terms ‘‘public housing’’ and ‘‘public 18 housing agency’’ have the meanings given those 19 terms in section 3(b) of the United States Housing 20 Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)); and 21 (5) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 22 of Housing and Urban Development. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Jun 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2638.IH H2638 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2638 IH SEC. 3. INSPECTIONS OF PUBLIC HOUSING. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—With respect to inspections of 2 public housing conducted by the Secretary, including 3 through the Real Estate Assessment Center, the Secretary 4 shall report on the presence or absence of automatic sprin- 5 kler systems in the public housing. 6 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the date 7 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall, based on 8 inspections of public housing conducted during the 3-year 9 period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, sub- 10 mit to Congress a report on the presence or absence of 11 automatic sprinkler systems in public housing, in par- 12 ticular in exempted public housing projects, which shall 13 include recommendations to improve fire safety in exempt- 14 ed public housing projects. 15 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 16 tion shall be construed to require a public housing agency 17 to install an automatic sprinkler system in an exempted 18 public housing project. 19 SEC. 4. GRANT PROGRAM TO RETROFIT PUBLIC HOUSING 20 WITH AUTOMATIC SPRINKLER SYSTEMS. 21 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish 22 a competitive grant program under which the Secretary 23 shall award grants to public housing agencies to install 24 automatic sprinkler systems in exempted public housing 25 projects. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Jun 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2638.IH H2638 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2638 IH (b) LIMITATION.—A public housing agency may not 1 use amounts received under this section to install auto- 2 matic sprinkler systems in a rebuilt multifamily property, 3 as defined in section 31(c)(2)(B)(iii) of the Federal Fire 4 Prevention and Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 5 2227(c)(2)(B)(iii)). 6 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In addi- 7 tion to amounts appropriated to the Capital Fund under 8 any other provision of law, there is authorized to be appro- 9 priated to the Capital Fund $25,000,000 for each of fiscal 10 years 2022 through 2031 to carry out this section. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Jun 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2638.IH H2638 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS