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Dear Friends:
As your district councilmember, I wanted to take a moment to update you on the work that our office has been doing to address one of the most pressing issues facing our community: the need for safe, accessible, and affordable housing.
Last month, a tragic apartment fire in Downtown Silver Spring took the life of 25-year-old Melanie Diaz and her two dogs, displaced over 400 residents, and hospitalized 20 people, including firefighters. 89 apartments were also condemned.
This apartment complex was one of 76 high-rise buildings in Montgomery County that had until January 1, 2033, to install automatic sprinkler systems to comply with the state fire safety code.
To promote essential safety measures and save lives in the event of a fire, I led my ten colleagues on the Montgomery County Council, along with the County Executive, in submitting a letter in support of the the Melanie Diaz Sprinklers Save Lives Act (SB 970/HB 1292). You can read the full press release here.
This statewide bill was introduced by Delegate Lorig Charkoudian and Senator Will Smith in the Maryland General Assembly.
If passed and signed into law, SB 970/HB 1292 would provide necessary fire safety improvements in high-rise apartment buildings by:
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Requiring the installation of an automatic smoke alarm in each public corridor accessible by units in high-rise buildings beginning on July 1, 2023.
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Codifying into law that beginning January 1, 2033, each high-rise building regardless of construction date, shall be protected by a complete automatic sprinkler system.
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Prohibiting landlords from charging deaf or hard of hearing tenants for necessary accessible alarm systems; and from charging tenants for smoke alarm reimbursements.
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Requiring buildings to post a notice in all main building entrances and note in the lease if they do not have automatic sprinkler systems in place.
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Instructing the Department of Housing and Community Development to work with the State Fire Marshal and Maryland Department of Emergency Management to identify funding sources to help building owners meet these requirements.
The Maryland State Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee will be hearing Senate Bill 970 this Thursday, March 16 at 1:00 pm. If you wish to provide official written testimony, you must submit it to the committee by 3:00 pm on Wednesday using the guidelines linked here.
You can also support this bill by using this pre-made template, or writing your own message and sending it to the Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee members using the button below:
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