State Senator Borris Miles is aware that one of the first calls he receives during the summer hurricane season is from a constituent informing him that an independent living complex has lost electricity, which prevents older Texans from using their air conditioners.
“Senator! He recalled a caller’s request when Hurricane Beryl cut off power to an assisted living facility last year. “You got these people here,” he replied. “How are we going to proceed?”
Miles, a Democrat from Houston, is grateful for locals like them. However, lawmakers in southeast Texas who seek better solutions have become increasingly frustrated as the frequency of storms has increased.
Because of this, Miles and four other politicians from the coast have introduced at least six legislation that would mandate emergency generators be installed in assisted living facilities, nursing institutions, and even some flats that cater to the 55-and-older demographic. In Texas, there are 2,004 assisted living facilities that house 49,574 people and 1,193 nursing homes that care for over 86,000 patients.
He remarked, “We need to take care of people,”
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State Senator Carol Alvarado, a Democrat from Houston, introduced SB 481, which would mandate that generators be included in emergency plans at assisted living and nursing institutions. In contrast to assisted living facilities, which are senior apartments that offer meals and some assistance to its inhabitants, nursing homes, as the name implies, provide patients with more intensive medical support.Rep. Christian Manuel, D-Beaumont, has introduced HB 1199, which requires emergency generators in such institutions to be able to run for at least 72 hours.
“Texans know firsthand the impact of being without power, particularly in elder care facilities where the stakes are incredibly high,” Manuel stated in a press release.
Rep. Suleman Lalani, a Democrat from Sugar Land, has introduced HB 1467, which would mandate that senior independent housing, assisted living facilities, and nursing homes have generators. His other bill, HB 863, would establish a common database of senior independent living communities’ locations along with the emergency plan for each complex, which is a state requirement for nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Emergency response officials would be able to view the information.
In reference to previous unsuccessful attempts to enact a generator bill, he remarked, “Things happen and then people make noise and then people go quiet,” “As a doctor, I believe I have a special opportunity and obligation…. I can’t just go back and say, “Oh, I’ll forget about it.”
History of generator bills and pushback
In addition to other extreme weather events like Uri’s freeze in 2021, last year’s wildfires in the Panhandle, and a windstorm in the Houston area, Texans have experienced devastation and fatalities from hurricanes Ritain in 2005, Ike in 2008, Harvey in 2017, and Beryl last July. For hours, days, and in Beryl’s case, weeks, all of them have been without power.
After a strong spring storm in 2018 knocked out electricity in his district, Pearland’s former state representative Ed Thompson became an advocate for residents at senior facilities.
“That lit a fire in me,” he said last week in an interview with the Tribune.
Although calls for generators to be necessary equipment, especially at assisted care homes, are not new, legislation like Thompson’s from 2023 and the previous two legislative sessions have failed. Following resistance from the assisted living and nursing care sectors, which mostly voiced worries about the price of generators, which are projected to be at least $200,000 or more for a facility, his legislation stopped in committee.
For this reason, Rep. Ana Hernandez, a Democrat from Houston, filed HB 2224 this session, which would mandate that elevators have backup power for 48 hours following a power outage. There was “a significant reduction in cost,” she stated. According to her, previous unsuccessful bills aimed to maintain power for the entire complex.
It is unclear if the powerful long-term care business will support such a rule given its lower cost.
The majority of the state’s nursing homes are represented by the Texas Health Care Association, which is currently led by former state senator Travis Clardy. According to Clardy, his organization’s members already have generators, but requiring all of them to buy and maintain equipment, possibly once every few years, is an expensive state requirement.
“I think our membership would prefer to be able to see that channeled into higher quality care,” Clardy stated.
Requirements during a storm
In the event of a hurricane approaching Texas, the state Health and Human Services Commission notifies providers of the need to have emergency plans available in case of power outages. In order to inquire about the inhabitants’ safety and health, the organization also makes direct contact with the facilities.
Three days after Hurricane Beryl made landfall on July 8 of last year, almost 80 long-term care facilities lost power. The organization claims that both nursing homes and assisted living institutions are always in charge of residents’ safety, even during a storm.
All assisted living and nursing care facilities are required to have emergency preparedness plans, which include a list of contacts that staff will notify in the case of a power outage and a strategy for evacuating residents if necessary.
Since 1996, all new nursing facilities have been required by state law to have an emergency generator to power safety features such exit signs and emergency lighting, fire alarms, nurse call systems, telephones, and life-saving and medicine equipment. It is not necessary for assisted living facilities to have a generator.
Since 2016, new and replacement nursing homes, as well as all nursing homes that have stated in their emergency plans that they would depend on emergency power to support heating and cooling or other essential systems, are required by federal law to have generators.
Other housing kinds, such as independent, elderly, or congregant living facilities, are not governed by the agency. Since they lack a state license, these organizations are exempt from reporting any information to the state health agency.
Regarding the need for generators, the Texas Assisted Living Association’s vice president of public policy, Carmen Tilton, stated that her organization has been a cooperative collaborator with legislators.
“The state doesn’t say you have to check a box,” she explained.
Industry is left to decide how to satisfy that criteria, according to the government. In a facility, it can involve using fans and portable generators to chill a single room while drawing inhabitants into it. Alternatively, assisted living institutions are free to buy and maintain a larger generator without the state dictating its size or the amount of fuel that must always be on hand.
According to Tilton, the assisted living sector wants to maintain that flexibility.
In addition to the administrative code, AARP Texas, which supports generators in assisted living homes, wants the law to be more clear. According to Andrea Earl, AARP Texas’ assistant state director of advocacy and outreach, the code is altered much too frequently and with too much ease.
“There’s no assurances in law that healthy temperatures will be maintained at all times in the residential spaces of Texas’ long-term care facilities,” she stated.
There are municipal governments that don’t wait for the legislature to take action. Harris County said earlier last month that it was adding a generator requirement to its fire code for all assisted living and nursing institutions situated in unincorporated regions.
“The new mandate is problematic in many ways and would needlessly require communities to reconfigure existing systems,” said Diana Martinez, the CEO and president of the assisted living association. “Generators are neither a one-time expense nor a magic bullet. It is true that generators malfunction.
Disclosure: The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that receives funding from members, foundations, and corporate sponsors, has received financial support from AARP Texas and the Texas Health Care Association. The journalism of the Tribune is independent of its financial backers. A comprehensive list of them can be found here.
