Public Housing Fire Safety Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5969 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 FEBRUARY 25, 2020 Mr. ROSE of New York (for himself, Mr. KING of New York, Ms. NORTON, and Mr. GRIJALVA) introduced the following bill; which was referred 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 (1) the term ‘‘automatic sprinkler system’’ has 8 the meaning given the term in section 31(a) of the 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:24 Feb 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5969.IH H5969 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5969 IH Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 1 (15 U.S.C. 2227(a)); 2 (2) the term ‘‘Capital Fund’’ means the Capital 3 Fund established under section 9(d) of the United 4 States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437g(d)); 5 (3) the term ‘‘exempted public housing project’’ 6 means a public housing project that— 7 (A) is not a newly constructed multifamily 8 property, as defined in section 31(c)(2)(A)(ii) of 9 the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 10 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2227(c)(2)(A)(ii)); and 11 (B) is not subject to the requirements 12 under section 31(c) of the Federal Fire Preven- 13 tion and Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 14 2227(c)); 15 (4) the terms ‘‘public housing’’ and ‘‘public 16 housing agency’’ have the meanings given those 17 terms in section 3(b) of the United States Housing 18 Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)); and 19 (5) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 20 of Housing and Urban Development. 21 SEC. 3. INSPECTIONS OF PUBLIC HOUSING. 22 (a) IN GENERAL.—With respect to inspections of 23 public housing conducted by the Secretary, including 24 through the Real Estate Assessment Center, the Secretary 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:24 Feb 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5969.IH H5969 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5969 IH shall report on the presence or absence of automatic sprin- 1 kler systems in the public housing project. 2 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the date 3 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall, based on 4 inspections of public housing conducted during the 3-year 5 period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, sub- 6 mit to Congress a report on the presence or absence of 7 automatic sprinkler systems in public housing, in par- 8 ticular in exempted public housing projects, which shall 9 include recommendations to improve fire safety in exempt- 10 ed public housing projects. 11 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 12 tion shall be construed to require a public housing agency 13 to install an automatic sprinkler system in an exempted 14 public housing project. 15 SEC. 4. GRANT PROGRAM TO RETROFIT PUBLIC HOUSING 16 WITH AUTOMATIC SPRINKLER SYSTEMS. 17 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish 18 a competitive grant program under which the Secretary 19 shall award grants to public housing agencies to install 20 automatic sprinkler systems in exempted public housing 21 projects. 22 (b) LIMITATION.—A public housing agency may not 23 use amounts received under this section to install auto- 24 matic sprinkler systems in a rebuilt multifamily property, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:24 Feb 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5969.IH H5969 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5969 IH as defined in section 31(c)(2)(A)(iii) of the Federal Fire 1 Prevention and Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2 2227(c)(2)(A)(iii)). 3 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In addi- 4 tion to amounts appropriated to the Capital Fund under 5 any other provision of law, there is authorized to be appro- 6 priated to the Capital Fund $25,000,000 for each of fiscal 7 years 2020 through 2029 to carry out this section. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:24 Feb 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5969.IH H5969 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS