Campus Fire Safety Education Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5647 To authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants to support fire safety education programs on college campuses. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 16, 2020 Mr. PASCRELL (for himself, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. BOST, Mr. PAYNE, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, and Mr. MALINOWSKI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants to support fire safety education programs on college cam- puses. 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 ‘‘Campus Fire Safety 4 Education Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 6 The purpose of this Act is to help provide fire safety 7 education and training to students attending institutions 8 of higher education. 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:52 Jan 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5647.IH H5647 2 •HR 5647 IH SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 1 In this Act: 2 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis- 3 trator’’ means the Administrator of the United 4 States Fire Administration of the Federal Emer- 5 gency Management Agency. 6 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti- 7 ty’’ means an institution of higher education, or con- 8 sortium of institutions of higher education located in 9 the same State, in a collaborative partnership with 10 a nonprofit organization or a public safety depart- 11 ment. Such a collaborative partnership may also in- 12 clude a social fraternity or sorority exempt from tax- 13 ation under section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue 14 Code of 1986, the active membership of which con- 15 sists primarily of students enrolled at the institution 16 or institutions. 17 (3) FIRE SAFETY EDUCATION PROGRAM.—The 18 term ‘‘fire safety education program’’ means a pro- 19 gram that provides fire safety and prevention activi- 20 ties. 21 (4) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 22 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 23 meaning given to such term in section 101 of the 24 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:52 Jan 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5647.IH H5647 3 •HR 5647 IH (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 1 the Secretary of Education. 2 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CAMPUS FIRE SAFETY 3 EDUCATION COMPETITIVE GRANT PROGRAM. 4 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF GRANT PROGRAM.—From 5 the amounts appropriated under section 7, the Secretary, 6 in consultation with the Administrator, shall establish a 7 grant program to award grants, on a competitive basis, 8 to eligible entities for— 9 (1) initiating, expanding, or improving fire safe- 10 ty education programs at institutions of higher edu- 11 cation; and 12 (2) increasing fire safety awareness among stu- 13 dents enrolled at such institutions, including stu- 14 dents living in off-campus housing. 15 (b) APPLICATION.—To seek a grant under this Act, 16 an eligible entity shall submit an application to the Sec- 17 retary at such time, in such manner, and containing such 18 information as the Secretary may require. 19 (c) SELECTION PRIORITY.—In making grants under 20 this Act, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible enti- 21 ties that plan to use grant funds to initiate, expand, or 22 improve fire safety education programs that include edu- 23 cational material specifically prepared for students with 24 disabilities. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:52 Jan 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5647.IH H5647 4 •HR 5647 IH (d) GRANT PERIOD.—Grants under this Act shall be 1 awarded for not longer than a 2-year period, and may be 2 renewed for an additional 2-year period, at the Secretary’s 3 discretion. 4 (e) GRANT SIZE.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 6 the Secretary shall ensure that grants awarded 7 under this Act are of sufficient size and scope to en- 8 able eligible entities to carry out all required activi- 9 ties and otherwise meet the purpose of this Act. 10 (2) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—An eligible entity may 11 not be awarded more than $250,000 per fiscal year 12 under this Act. 13 (f) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—An eligible entity re- 14 ceiving a grant under this Act shall provide non-Federal 15 matching funds in an amount equal to not less than 25 16 percent of the costs of the activities for which assistance 17 is sought. Such non-Federal matching funds may be in 18 cash or in-kind. 19 (g) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds made 20 available under this Act shall be used to supplement, not 21 supplant, other Federal, State, or private funds that would 22 otherwise be expended to carry out fire safety education 23 programs. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:52 Jan 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5647.IH H5647 5 •HR 5647 IH SEC. 5. REQUIRED USES OF FUNDS. 1 (a) REQUIRED USES OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity 2 receiving a grant under this Act shall use grant funds to 3 initiate, expand, or improve a fire safety education pro- 4 gram that— 5 (1) in the case of an eligible entity that is an 6 institution of higher education, reaches, to the ex- 7 tent practicable, all students enrolled in the institu- 8 tion of higher education, including students living 9 on-campus and off-campus; 10 (2) is carried out in a manner to ensure max- 11 imum exposure to, increase awareness of, and effec- 12 tuate change in behavior with respect to fire safety 13 by students through— 14 (A) conducting outreach to students at a 15 minimum of twice per academic year (at the be- 16 ginning of the fall and spring semesters, or the 17 equivalent); and 18 (B) measures that provide fire safety infor- 19 mation to any student upon the request of the 20 student; 21 (3) includes minimum instruction with respect 22 to— 23 (A) awareness of fire behavior; 24 (B) mechanisms of fire injury and death; 25 (C) common ignition scenarios; 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:52 Jan 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5647.IH H5647 6 •HR 5647 IH (D) fire safety systems such as automatic 1 fire sprinklers; 2 (E) fire alarms; 3 (F) fire extinguishers; 4 (G) importance of means of egress; 5 (H) fire prevention techniques that may 6 prevent a fire from occurring (such as candle 7 safety, cooking safety, and smoking safety); and 8 (I) fire safety actions to be taken if a fire 9 occurs to minimize the potential for death, in- 10 jury, and property damage (such as knowing 11 how to use a fire extinguisher, how to put out 12 a cooking fire, calling 911, and evacuating); 13 and 14 (4) includes a mechanism for carrying out the 15 evaluations described in subsection (b). 16 (b) EVALUATIONS.—Not later than 6 months after 17 the end of an eligible entity’s grant period, the eligible en- 18 tity shall— 19 (1) conduct an evaluation on the effectiveness 20 of the program carried out by the eligible entity in 21 increasing awareness or improving fire safety behav- 22 ior at such eligible entity; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:52 Jan 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5647.IH H5647 7 •HR 5647 IH (2) prepare and submit to the Secretary a re- 1 port on the results of the evaluation conducted by 2 the entity. 3 SEC. 6. REPORTS. 4 (a) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 12 5 months after the date of receipt of the first report sub- 6 mitted pursuant to section 5(b)(2) and annually there- 7 after, the Secretary shall provide to Congress a report that 8 includes the following: 9 (1) The number and types of eligible entities re- 10 ceiving assistance under this Act. 11 (2) The fire safety education programs being 12 implemented with assistance under this Act and the 13 costs of such programs. 14 (3) Any other information determined by the 15 Secretary to be useful in evaluating the overall effec- 16 tiveness of the program established under this Act in 17 improving the fire safety knowledge of college stu- 18 dents. 19 (b) BEST PRACTICES REPORT.—The Secretary, in 20 consultation with the Administrator, shall use the infor- 21 mation provided under subsection (a) to publish a report 22 of best practices for initiating, expanding, or improving 23 fire safety education programs that shall be made avail- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:52 Jan 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5647.IH H5647 8 •HR 5647 IH able to all institutions of higher education and other inter- 1 ested parties. 2 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 3 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 4 this Act $15,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2021 5 through 2025. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:52 Jan 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5647.IH H5647