Carbon Monoxide Detectors to be Required
The Colorado Senate gave final approval today to a bill require carbon monoxide detectors in homes. The Senate approved the measure 29-5, sending it back to the House to approve changes.
The bill would require all homes and apartment buildings for sale to have carbon monoxide detectors near bedrooms. Homeowners and apartment owners also would have to install detectors if they completed any major renovations or additions. The bill, House Bill 1091, now heads to the governor's desk.
The bill is formally titled "The Lofgren and Johnson Family Carbon Monoxide Safety Act," in memory of Lauren, a 23-year-old DU graduate student, and also the four members of the Lofgren family from Denver, who died of carbon-monoxide poisoning in November while vacationing in Aspen. See Another Tragic Death.
Sadly, Colorado lawmakers admit that they voted against the bill last year over concerns it was being pushed by the alarm makers. The deaths this winter demonstrate that the question is a matter of consumer safety not alarm makers' profits.