CO ALERTS Act of 2019

IIB 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1690 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 11, 2019 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs AN ACT To require carbon monoxide alarms or detectors in certain federally assisted 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1690.RFS H1690 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 HR 1690 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Carbon Monoxide 2 Alarms Leading Every Resident To Safety Act of 2019’’ 3 or the ‘‘CO ALERTS Act of 2019’’. 4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 5 Congress finds that— 6 (1) carbon monoxide alarms are not required by 7 federally assisted housing programs, when not re- 8 quired by State or local codes; 9 (2) numerous federally assisted housing resi- 10 dents have lost their lives due to carbon monoxide 11 poisoning; 12 (3) the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning 13 occur immediately and can result in death in a mat- 14 ter of minutes; 15 (4) carbon monoxide exposure can cause perma- 16 nent brain damage, life-threatening cardiac com- 17 plications, fetal death or miscarriage, and death, 18 among other harmful health conditions; 19 (5) carbon monoxide poisoning is especially 20 dangerous for unborn babies, children, elderly indi- 21 viduals, and individuals with cardiovascular disease, 22 among others with chronic health conditions; 23 (6) the majority of the 4,600,000 families re- 24 ceiving Federal housing assistance are families with 25 young children, elderly individuals, or individuals 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1690.RFS H1690 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 HR 1690 RFS with disabilities, making them especially vulnerable 1 to carbon monoxide poisoning; 2 (7) more than 400 people die and 50,000 addi- 3 tional people visit the emergency room annually as 4 a result of carbon monoxide poisoning; 5 (8) carbon monoxide poisoning is entirely pre- 6 ventable and early detection is possible with the use 7 of carbon monoxide alarms; 8 (9) the Centers for Disease Control and Preven- 9 tion warns that carbon monoxide poisoning is en- 10 tirely preventable and recommends the installation 11 of carbon monoxide alarms; 12 (10) the Office of Lead Hazard Control and 13 Healthy Homes of the Department of Housing and 14 Urban Development recommends the installation of 15 carbon monoxide alarms as a best practice to keep 16 families and individuals safe and to protect health; 17 and 18 (11) in order to safeguard the health and well- 19 being of tenants in federally assisted housing, the 20 Federal Government should consider best practices 21 for primary prevention of carbon monoxide-related 22 incidents. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1690.RFS H1690 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 HR 1690 RFS SEC. 3. CARBON MONOXIDE ALARMS OR DETECTORS IN 1 FEDERALLY ASSISTED HOUSING. 2 (a) PUBLIC HOUSING, TENANT-BASED ASSISTANCE, 3 AND PROJECT-BASED ASSISTANCE.—The United States 4 Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq.) is amend- 5 ed— 6 (1) in section 3(a) (42 U.S.C. 1437a(a)), by 7 adding at the end the following: 8 ‘‘(8) CARBON MONOXIDE ALARMS.—Each public 9 housing agency shall ensure that carbon monoxide 10 alarms or detectors are installed in each dwelling 11 unit in public housing owned or operated by the 12 public housing agency in a manner that meets or ex- 13 ceeds— 14 ‘‘(A) the standards described in chapters 9 15 and 11 of the 2018 publication of the Inter- 16 national Fire Code, as published by the Inter- 17 national Code Council; or 18 ‘‘(B) any other standards as may be adopt- 19 ed by the Secretary, including any relevant up- 20 dates to the International Fire Code, through a 21 notice published in the Federal Register.’’; and 22 (2) in section 8 (42 U.S.C. 1437f)— 23 (A) by inserting after subsection (i) the 24 following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1690.RFS H1690 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 HR 1690 RFS ‘‘(j) CARBON MONOXIDE ALARMS.—Each owner of a 1 dwelling unit receiving project-based assistance under this 2 section shall ensure that carbon monoxide alarms or detec- 3 tors are installed in the dwelling unit in a manner that 4 meets or exceeds— 5 ‘‘(1) the standards described in chapters 9 and 6 11 of the 2018 publication of the International Fire 7 Code, as published by the International Code Coun- 8 cil; or 9 ‘‘(2) any other standards as may be adopted by 10 the Secretary, including any relevant updates to the 11 International Fire Code, through a notice published 12 in the Federal Register.’’; and 13 (B) in subsection (o), by adding at the end 14 the following: 15 ‘‘(21) CARBON MONOXIDE ALARMS.—Each 16 dwelling unit receiving tenant-based assistance or 17 project-based assistance under this subsection shall 18 have carbon monoxide alarms or detectors installed 19 in the dwelling unit in a manner that meets or ex- 20 ceeds— 21 ‘‘(A) the standards described in chapters 9 22 and 11 of the 2018 publication of the Inter- 23 national Fire Code, as published by the Inter- 24 national Code Council; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1690.RFS H1690 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 HR 1690 RFS ‘‘(B) any other standards as may be adopt- 1 ed by the Secretary, including any relevant up- 2 dates to the International Fire Code, through a 3 notice published in the Federal Register.’’. 4 (b) SUPPORTIVE HOUSING FOR THE ELDERLY.— 5 Section 202(j) of the Housing Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 6 1701q(j)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 7 ‘‘(9) CARBON MONOXIDE ALARMS.—Each owner 8 of a dwelling unit assisted under this section shall 9 ensure that carbon monoxide alarms or detectors are 10 installed in the dwelling unit in a manner that meets 11 or exceeds— 12 ‘‘(A) the standards described in chapters 9 13 and 11 of the 2018 publication of the Inter- 14 national Fire Code, as published by the Inter- 15 national Code Council; or 16 ‘‘(B) any other standards as may be adopt- 17 ed by the Secretary, including any relevant up- 18 dates to the International Fire Code, through a 19 notice published in the Federal Register.’’. 20 (c) SUPPORTIVE HOUSING FOR PERSONS WITH DIS- 21 ABILITIES.—Section 811(j) of the Cranston-Gonzalez Na- 22 tional Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 8013(j)) is 23 amended by adding at the end the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1690.RFS H1690 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 HR 1690 RFS ‘‘(7) CARBON MONOXIDE ALARMS.—Each dwell- 1 ing unit assisted under this section shall contain in- 2 stalled carbon monoxide alarms or detectors that 3 meet or exceed— 4 ‘‘(A) the standards described in chapters 9 5 and 11 of the 2018 publication of the Inter- 6 national Fire Code, as published by the Inter- 7 national Code Council; or 8 ‘‘(B) any other standards as may be adopt- 9 ed by the Secretary, including any relevant up- 10 dates to the International Fire Code, through a 11 notice published in the Federal Register.’’. 12 (d) HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR PERSONS WITH 13 AIDS.—Section 856 of the Cranston-Gonzalez National 14 Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12905) is amended by 15 adding at the end the following new subsection: 16 ‘‘(i) CARBON MONOXIDE ALARMS.—Each dwelling 17 unit assisted under this subtitle shall contain installed car- 18 bon monoxide alarms or detectors that meet or exceed— 19 ‘‘(1) the standards described in chapters 9 and 20 11 of the 2018 publication of the International Fire 21 Code, as published by the International Code Coun- 22 cil; or 23 ‘‘(2) any other standards as may be adopted by 24 the Secretary, including any relevant updates to the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1690.RFS H1690 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 HR 1690 RFS International Fire Code, through a notice published 1 in the Federal Register.’’. 2 (e) RURAL HOUSING.—Title V of the Housing Act 3 of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1471 et seq.) is amended— 4 (1) in section 514 (42 U.S.C. 1484), by adding 5 at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(j) Housing and related facilities constructed with 7 loans under this section shall contain installed carbon 8 monoxide alarms or detectors that meet or exceed— 9 ‘‘(1) the standards described in chapters 9 and 10 11 of the 2018 publication of the International Fire 11 Code, as published by the International Code Coun- 12 cil; or 13 ‘‘(2) any other standards as may be adopted by 14 the Secretary, in collaboration with the Secretary of 15 Housing and Urban Development, including any rel- 16 evant updates to the International Fire Code, 17 through a notice published in the Federal Register.’’; 18 and 19 (2) in section 515 (42 U.S.C. 1485)— 20 (A) in subsection (m), by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ 21 before ‘‘The Secretary shall establish’’; and 22 (B) by adding at the end the following: 23 ‘‘(2) Housing and related facilities rehabilitated or 24 repaired with amounts received under a loan made or in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1690.RFS H1690 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 HR 1690 RFS sured under this section shall contain installed carbon 1 monoxide alarms or detectors that meet or exceed— 2 ‘‘(A) the standards described in chapters 9 and 3 11 of the 2018 publication of the International Fire 4 Code, as published by the International Code Coun- 5 cil; or 6 ‘‘(B) any other standards as may be adopted by 7 the Secretary, in collaboration with the Secretary of 8 Housing and Urban Development, including any rel- 9 evant updates to the International Fire Code, 10 through a notice published in the Federal Register.’’. 11 (f) GUIDANCE.—The Secretary of Housing and 12 Urban Development shall provide guidance to public hous- 13 ing agencies (as defined in section 3(b)(6) of the United 14 States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)(6)) on 15 how to educate tenants on health hazards in the home, 16 including to carbon monoxide poisoning, lead poisoning, 17 asthma induced by housing-related allergens, and other 18 housing-related preventable outcomes, to help advance pri- 19 mary prevention and prevent future deaths and other 20 harms. 21 (g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 22 subsections (a) through (d) shall take effect on the date 23 that is 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1690.RFS H1690 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 HR 1690 RFS (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 1 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act, 2 $101,400,000 per year for each of fiscal years 2020, 2021, 3 and 2022. 4 (i) NO PREEMPTION.—Nothing in the amendments 5 made by this section shall be construed to preempt or limit 6 the applicability of any State or local law relating to the 7 installation and maintenance of carbon monoxide alarms 8 or detectors in housing that requires standards that are 9 more stringent than the standards described in the amend- 10 ments made by this section. 11 SEC. 4. STUDY ON INCLUSION OF CARBON MONOXIDE 12 ALARMS OR DETECTORS IN OTHER UNITS. 13 The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, 14 in consultation with the Consumer Product Safety Com- 15 mission, shall conduct a study and issue a publicly avail- 16 able report on requiring carbon monoxide alarms or detec- 17 tors in federally assisted housing that is not covered in 18 the amendments made by section 3. 19 Passed the House of Representatives September 10, 2019. Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1690.RFS H1690 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS