The Florida Senate

It is the intent of the Legislature to promote the essential public purpose of ensuring effective fire protection for the safety and welfare of nursing home residents of this state who, because of their inability to protect themselves, are most vulnerable to catastrophic injury or death in the event of a fire. The Legislature finds that this purpose is served by requiring the installation of appropriate fire protection systems in all nursing home facilities in this state that do not currently have fire protection systems in operation for the protection of their residents. The Legislature finds that the high capital cost of retrofitting appropriate fire protection systems at nursing home facilities not originally designed with fire protection systems has discouraged the owners and operators of such facilities from doing so. The Legislature therefore finds that state action to provide a limited state guarantee of loans covering these capital costs will expedite the immediate installation of fire protection systems at facilities that lack such systems and thereby ensure effective protection for those nursing home populations that are now most vulnerable to the catastrophic effects of fire.

Because the Insurance Regulatory Trust Fund is funded by the proceeds of fire insurance premiums written in this state, the Legislature finds that it is in the public interest for moneys held in the Insurance Regulatory Trust Fund to be used to fund the limited loan guarantee program that mobilizes private funding for the retrofitting of fire protection systems at unprotected nursing homes located in this state.