WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last night, the Senate passed legislation authored by U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) to provide students and families with crucial fire safety records of colleges and universities.  The Lautenberg bill was included as part of a larger higher education package that now heads to the President to be signed into law.

    Since 1990, colleges and universities have been publishing crime statistics on campus thefts, assaults, and sexual and capital crimes, but fire-related incidents are not required to be made public.

    “There is safety in information.  Parents and students need to know that college campuses are doing all they can to keep students safe.  We must take every step possible to prevent a tragedy like the Seton Hall fire from ever happening again.  The Senate’s passage of our bill brings us one step closer to giving the public the information it needs to evaluate fire safety at colleges and universities,” Sen. Lautenberg said.

    Sen. Lautenberg was joined in applauding Senate passage of his bill, the Campus Fire Safety Right-to-Know Act (S. 354), by Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ-08), the author and lead sponsor of the House version of the bill.

    “I applaud the Senate for joining the House of Representatives to prioritize campus fire safety in the Higher Education Opportunity Act.  Campus fires have taken the lives of 129 people across the country since 2000, including three in the tragic Seton Hall University fire.  If the common sense fire safety disclosure requirements in this legislation were in place years ago, many lives may have been saved.  Fewer families and classmates may have had to experience the horrific shock and pain that overwhelmed the Seton Hall community eight years ago.  I thank Senator Lautenberg for leading our effort in the Senate to implement these basic public safety standards, and urge the President to join us in further improving America’s college campuses,” stated Rep. Pascrell.

    The Lautenberg-Pascrell measure would require campus fire safety information to be made public and would provide a powerful incentive for colleges and universities to voluntarily upgrade their safety systems.  The bill also calls for:

        •    detailed reports on the number of actual fires in each on-campus student housing facility as well as information on deaths, injuries and structural damage to facilities over the previous two years;

        •    colleges and universities to maintain a log of all campus fires and make this information available to the public;

        •    reports on fire safety education and training provided to students, faculty and staff; and

        •    the Secretary of Education to identify best practices for campus fire safety.

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