Senators Tina Smith (D-MN) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced the “Public Housing Fire Safety Act” (S.3090) on December 18. If enacted, the bill would create a $25 million competitive grant program for public housing agencies to retrofit high-rise public housing developments with fire sprinkler systems. It would also collect data on the status of fire sprinkler instillations in public housing around the country.
The bill was introduced in response to a fatal fire at a public housing property in Minnesota last month that killed five and injured four residents. The Federal Fire Safety Act of 1992 mandates the installation of sprinklers in all government buildings constructed after 1992, but many public housing properties were constructed before the law took effect. The building at which the fatal fire occurred was built in 1969.
More about the bill will be at: https://bit.ly/2MbGlvM
A summary of the bill is at: https://bit.ly/34AJmfx