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| 2 | 2 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1355 FILED ON: 1/18/2023 |
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| 3 | 3 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2331 |
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| 4 | 4 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 5 | 5 | | _________________ |
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| 6 | 6 | | PRESENTED BY: |
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| 7 | 7 | | Colleen M. Garry |
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| 8 | 8 | | _________________ |
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| 9 | 9 | | To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General |
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| 10 | 10 | | Court assembled: |
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| 11 | 11 | | The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill: |
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| 12 | 12 | | An Act to establish a window falls prevention program within the Department of Public Health |
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| 13 | 13 | | and mandate window guards in residential homes AKA "Zella Ray's Law". |
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| 14 | 14 | | _______________ |
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| 15 | 15 | | PETITION OF: |
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| 16 | 16 | | NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Colleen M. Garry36th Middlesex1/10/2023Carol A. Doherty3rd Bristol2/7/2023 1 of 3 |
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| 17 | 17 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1355 FILED ON: 1/18/2023 |
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| 18 | 18 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2331 |
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| 19 | 19 | | By Representative Garry of Dracut, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 2331) of Colleen |
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| 20 | 20 | | M. Garry and Carol A. Doherty relative to window guards in residential homes. Public Safety |
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| 21 | 21 | | and Homeland Security. |
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| 22 | 22 | | [SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION |
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| 23 | 23 | | SEE HOUSE, NO. 2467 OF 2021-2022.] |
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| 24 | 24 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 25 | 25 | | _______________ |
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| 26 | 26 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court |
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| 27 | 27 | | (2023-2024) |
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| 28 | 28 | | _______________ |
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| 29 | 29 | | An Act to establish a window falls prevention program within the Department of Public Health |
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| 30 | 30 | | and mandate window guards in residential homes AKA "Zella Ray's Law". |
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| 31 | 31 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 32 | 32 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 33 | 33 | | 1 Section 237: Duty of residential premises owners; Window Falls Prevention Program |
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| 34 | 34 | | 2 (a) Definitions: |
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| 35 | 35 | | 3 (1) The term “Department” means the Department of Public Health. |
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| 36 | 36 | | 4 (2) The term “Window guard” means a bar, screen, or grille assembly installed in a |
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| 37 | 37 | | 5window for the purpose of preventing a child from accidently falling out of the window, in |
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| 38 | 38 | | 6accordance with the regulations promulgated by the Department. |
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| 39 | 39 | | 7 (b) Whenever a child under six years of age resides in any premises in which any window |
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| 40 | 40 | | 8accessible to the child is on the third floor or higher floor, the owner shall install window guards 2 of 3 |
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| 41 | 41 | | 9in any such windows. If any such windows are an access to fire escape routes or structures, the |
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| 42 | 42 | | 10window guard shall be removable. At no time shall the window guards be removed for any |
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| 43 | 43 | | 11reason except emergency egress in times of a fire or other situation involving hazardous |
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| 44 | 44 | | 12materials |
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| 45 | 45 | | 13 (c) If the owner is a landlord, the window guards shall be provided at no additional cost |
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| 46 | 46 | | 14to the tenant. The tenant shall not remove the window guards for any reason except emergency |
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| 47 | 47 | | 15egress in times of a fire or other situation involving hazardous materials. The obligation of a |
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| 48 | 48 | | 16landlord to install window guards under this section shall not affect the ability of a renter to lease |
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| 49 | 49 | | 17the unit; and any discrimination by the landlord in this regard shall be punishable by a fine of not |
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| 50 | 50 | | 18less than $500 but not more than $1000. |
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| 51 | 51 | | 19 (d) There shall be a Window Falls Prevention Program established within the |
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| 52 | 52 | | 20Department of Public Health. The purpose of said program shall be as follows: |
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| 53 | 53 | | 21 Educating the public about the danger to children, age six (6) years and under, of falling |
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| 54 | 54 | | 22from windows; and the importance of installing window guards in all dwellings occupied by |
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| 55 | 55 | | 23children age six (6) and under. The Program shall conduct education and outreach efforts |
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| 56 | 56 | | 24promoting awareness about the dangers to children, age six (6) years and under falling from open |
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| 57 | 57 | | 25or otherwise unprotected windows. Information and technical assistance shall be made available |
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| 58 | 58 | | 26to the public on the steps and devices that may mitigate this serious problem. The Program shall |
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| 59 | 59 | | 27work with any and all existing agencies and departments involved with children in its outreach |
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| 60 | 60 | | 28efforts. |
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| 61 | 61 | | 29 (e) No occupant or any other person, shall obstruct or interfere with the installation of |
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| 62 | 62 | | 30window guards, nor shall any person remove or otherwise render ineffective window guards. 3 of 3 |
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| 63 | 63 | | 31 (f) The Department shall, within a reasonable period of time, investigate complaints filed |
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| 64 | 64 | | 32with regard to a violation under this section, and may impose up to a $10,000 civil penalty for a |
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| 65 | 65 | | 33violation not remedied within ten business days. |
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