Fearing a repeat of the deadly heat, Knowles approached Sen. Mark Mullet, D-Issaquah, and asked for a legislative fix. Senate Bill 5147 seeks to provide small grants for adult family home operators to purchase air conditioning, and eventually require new facilities to be equipped with cooling units.
Assisted-living facilities are required to have cooling systems capable of keeping temps down to 75 degrees. Nursing homes built after 2000 must have air conditioning. But the state doesn’t yet have specific AC requirements for adult family homes.
“We’re just trying to make sure the next time it happens we don’t have a bunch of people passing away in adult family homes,” said Mullet, the bill’s lead sponsor.
