Campus Fire Safety Education Act of 2010

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2136) to establish the Honorable Stephanie Tubbs Jones Fire Suppression Demonstration Incentive Program within the Department of Education to promote installation of fire sprinkler systems, or other fire suppression or prevention technologies, in qualified student housing and dormitories, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I request 5 legislative days during which Members may revise and extend and insert extraneous materials on H.R. 2136 into the Record.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2136. I would like to thank Chairman Miller, Ranking Member Kline, the members of the Education and Labor Committee, and the 70 Members on both sides of the aisle who cosponsored this important

legislation, the Honorable Stephanie Tubbs Jones College Fire Prevention Act.

During the last 8 years of her career in Congress, the Honorable Stephanie Tubbs Jones tirelessly advocated for the passage of this bill. She believed, as I do, that college students must be safeguarded against house fires. When I was elected to Congress last fall, I promised myself and the people of the 11th Congressional District of Ohio that I would use my vote to support policies providing practical and lasting solutions for the district. This bill does just that. H.R. 2136, the Honorable Stephanie Tubbs Jones College Fire Prevention Act, supports the installation and management of fire suppression or fire prevention technologies in student housing, including fraternal houses. The Act directs the Secretary of Education to make competitive grants for up to half the cost of installing fire sprinkler systems or other fire suppression or prevention technologies. The funding would be disbursed to dormitories at institutions of higher education as well as fraternity and sorority housing. College students deserve safe housing with fire prevention systems, regardless of whether they live in nontraditional student housing, a sorority or fraternity house, or in dormitories. Fraternal organizations have long played a leading role in cultivating the social and intellectual well-being of our college students. We must ensure that these organizations have access to the necessary resources to protect our youth.

So far this year, there have been six deaths attributed to student housing fires. Since the year 2000, Ohio alone has suffered 13 student deaths and 36 related campus incidents due to student housing fires, according to Campus Firewatch. When fire prevention and sprinkler systems are present, students' survival rates increase by 97 percent, and property damage is lowered by 35 percent. Carol Dietz, assistant vice president of facilities at John Carroll University, which is in my district, stresses the importance of fire safety measures. John Carroll is currently planning the implementation of fire fighting technologies which cost $500,000 for each residence hall. These grants could help us defray the costs of safeguarding our students.

Once again, I would like to thank the Education and Labor Committee, the many supporters of this important legislation, and college students across the Nation who have worked tirelessly to move this legislation forward. Finally, I am grateful for the vision and compassion of my friend, the late Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones.

Committee on the Judiciary,

House of Representatives,

Washington, DC, May 6, 2010.

Hon. George Miller,

Chairman, Committee on Education and Labor, House of

Representatives, Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Miller: In recognition of the desire to

expedite consideration of H.R. 2136, the Honorable Stephanie

Tubbs Jones College Fire Prevention Act, the Committee on the

Judiciary agrees to waive formal consideration of the bill as

to provisions that fall within its rule X jurisdiction.

The Committee takes this action with our mutual

understanding that by foregoing consideration of H.R. 2136 at

this time, it does not waive any jurisdiction over subject

matter contained in this or similar legislation, and that our

Committee will be appropriately consulted and involved as the

bill or similar legislation moves forward, so that we may

address any remaining issues in our jurisdiction. The

Committee also reserves the right to seek appointment of an

appropriate number of conferees to any House-Senate

conference involving this or similar legislation, and

requests your support for any such request.

I would appreciate your including this letter in the

Congressional Record during consideration of the bill on the

House floor.

Thank you for your attention to this matter, and for the

cooperative working relationship between our two committees.

Sincerely,

John Conyers, Jr.,

Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for their support, and I urge support of H.R. 2136.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 2136, the Stephanie Tubbs Jones College Fire Prevention Act. This bill represents an opportunity to improve critical fire safety systems in college facilities across the country.

The issue of campus fire safety became personal for me after a tragic fire swept through a dorm at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey, in 2000. The blaze took the lives of three students and injured 58 more. Since that terrible day, thousands of fires have cut short the lives of 135 students throughout the country. The sad reality is that that many of those deaths could have been averted with proper fire safety equipment.

The Stephanie Tubbs Jones College Fire Prevention Act will direct the Secretary of Education to provide grants to institutions of higher education toward the installation of sprinklers and other fire prevention systems in student housing and dorms. This essential funding can make the difference in fire emergencies between life and death. No college student should have to live in a building without appropriate fire safeguards.

My home State of New Jersey has been at the forefront of this issue for many years now, mandating sprinkler systems be installed in all on- campus housing facilities at universities in the State. This legislation will enable institutions of higher education in other States to take similar steps to provide security and peace of mind to students and parents--that they will have these basic safety devices to protect them in the event of an emergency.

This bill gives special attention to colleges and universities that need funding most, and gives priority to institutions that demonstrate the greatest financial need. This key provision will help ensure that fire safety technology is not off limits to schools because of financial constraints. I believe we owe it to those students to ensure that each and every college dorm is outfitted with the most comprehensive fire prevention technology available. The Stephanie Tubbs Jones College Fire Prevention Act will provide great assistance in achieving this goal.

In considering this legislation, we should also remember its namesake--the late Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones. I had the privilege of working closely with Stephanie on critical public safety legislation, and will always remember her as a staunch advocate of life-saving fire prevention.

We are gaining ground in the battle to prevent these deadly college fires, but we must be mindful of the work that remains. The House has recognized September as Campus Fire Safety Month, which every year has helped to raise awareness of this critical issue. With the Stephanie Tubbs Jones College Fire Prevention Act, we have the opportunity to provide colleges with the funding they need to install lifesaving fire safety technology and come one step closer to extinguishing the threat of college fires once and for all.

I strongly support H.R. 2136, and call on this body to soon pass my legislation, H.R. 4908, the Campus Fire Safety Education Act of 2010, which will help deliver a life saving campus fire safety education curriculum to our Nation's colleges. I will continue to work tirelessly to make our colleges and universities a safe environment for our Nation's students.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of the bill before us, H.R. 2136, the Honorable Stephanie Tubbs Jones College Fire Prevention Act. Today we have an opportunity to discuss the need to bolster safety on college campuses, specifically fire safety. The name of this bill is appropriate because there was no Member of this body more concerned about protecting our college students from the dangers of fires than the late Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones. This bill would honor Representative Tubbs Jones by naming a demonstration program in her honor.

Our Nation's college students should be able to live on campus with the confidence that they will be safe in their dorms, apartments or other housing. This measure will take a step toward allowing colleges to ensure their buildings are properly equipped with the latest fire safety measures. Specifically, this bill will allow colleges and universities hoping to participate in the demonstration program to apply for funds that can be used to install fire sprinkler systems or other fire suppression or prevention technologies on campus or in buildings controlled by the university.

This measure, combined with the provisions enacted by Congress in the Higher Education Opportunity Act, will increase campus fire safety at colleges and universities. The provisions included in the Higher Education Opportunity Act require colleges to provide a fire safety report to the Secretary of Education. The report must include statistics showing the number of fires and injuries resulting from fires on campus over the past year. We will also require colleges to report on the type of fire prevention technologies they are utilizing and any plans the college may have to improve their fire prevention and detection technologies. The bill before us today will help colleges think creatively about fire safety and ensure they have the funds to move forward with their plans.

Today we have the opportunity to provide a commitment to the safety of college students and pass a measure that will help colleges keep our young people safe from devastating fires. I urge my colleagues to support the bill before us.

I understand the majority has no further requests for time, so I yield such time as she may consume to my colleague from West Virginia, the Honorable Representative Shelley Moore Capito.

I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman and gentlewoman for bringing this bill forth. I stand today in support of H.R. 2136, the Honorable Stephanie Tubbs Jones College Fire Prevention Act. I had the pleasure of serving with Congresswoman Tubbs Jones. She was a wonderful effervescent Member of our House. She was a very strong advocate for campus fire prevention, and she is greatly missed. But we are thinking about her today.

You know, every parent expects when they send their child off to college that they will be sending them to be protected and to be safe. For the most part, that is true, but unfortunately, that's not always the case. In 2007, a fire broke out in a 64-unit apartment building which was privately owned near Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. It housed a number of students from Marshall. Nine people were killed in that fire, including one student who attended Marshall University and two of his siblings who were visiting him there. I was astonished to learn that there was no sprinkler system in the building, and several of the apartments didn't have smoke detectors.

Each year, unfortunately, college and university students on- and off-campus

experience hundreds of fire emergencies. Overall, most college-related fires are due to a general lack of knowledge about fire safety and prevention and also the lack of updating fire prevention equipment into the buildings. A lot of the buildings are older and were not equipped with sprinklers and other fire detection methods. This bill goes a long way, I think, to try to help solve that problem.

The great majority of student fire deaths occur in off-campus housing with insufficient exits and missing or inoperative smoke alarms or automatic fire sprinklers. These are deaths that can and should be prevented. H.R. 2136, would extend Stephanie Tubbs Jones' legacy by providing grants to institutions of higher education, fraternities and sororities to cover up to half the cost of installing fire sprinkler systems and other fire suppression or prevention technologies in student housing and in dormitories.

With that, I would like to thank the sponsors of the bill, and I urge the passage of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my former colleague Stephanie Tubbs Jones and to address a cause she championed for much of her career in the Congress. Campus safety is a very complex and important issue. We must protect students as they walk home from their late night studies and we must protect them when they arrive in their dorms or other forms of campus housing.

Our college and universities are more open now than they have been and serve more students than they were originally planned to serve. Often times, housing buildings are the oldest buildings on a campus. This is especially the case for fraternity and sorority housing. The Stephanie Tubbs Jones College Fire Prevention Act addresses the problem many colleges and universities face with housing and fire safety.

Mr. Speaker, what made Congresswoman Tubbs Jones such an effective Member of Congress was her keen ability to see a need and fill it. This bill carries her name and does just that. I am proud to be a cosponsor of this bill and urge its passage.