Carbon Monoxide Bill To Be Signed Into Law Today

Gov. Bill Ritter will sign into law today a bill that requires all homes placed on the market and all apartments to have carbon monoxide detectors installed in them.

HB 1091, which is called "The Lofgren and Johnson Family Carbon Monoxide Safety Act," will be signed at Denver Fire Station No. 10, 3200 Steele St., Denver at 3:30 pm.

The measure was inspired by the deaths last autumn of Parker Lofgren, 39, his wife Caroline Lofgren, 42, and their children, Owen, 10, and Sophie, 8 in an Aspen-area rental home that was not equipped with carbon monoxide detectors and by the death in January of Lauren Johnson, 23, a University of Denver graduate student, in a rented apartment not equipped with such a device.

Carbon Monoxide Bill Heads to Senate

The bill that would require all new homes and existing homes offered for sale after July 1 and all apartments to include carbon monoxide alarms is on the way to the Senate.

HB 1091 was given final approval Tuesday by the House on a 43-21 vote.

Republicans opposed the measure, arguing that it is unfair to impose a mandate on the private sector if no similar requirements apply to state facilities.

Republicans Randy Baumgardner, Don Marostica, B.J. Nikkel, Kevin Priola, Amy Stephens and Glenn Vaad joined the majority Democrats in support of the bill.

Democrat Wes McKinley of Walsh voted "no."

Despite Partisan Battle, Carbon Monoxide Alarm Bill Gets Preliminary House OK

The House of Representatives gave preliminary approval Monday to a bill that will require builders of new homes and sellers of existing homes, as well as landlords, to install carbon monoxide detectors.

The measure, which was inspired by the recent deaths of a Denver family on the west slope and a college student at the University of Denver, cleared the chamber on a voice vote after several Republican amendments failed.

Among those unsuccessful efforts to change the bill was a proposal to require all state buildings, including college dormitories, to install CO alarms.

But sponsoring Rep. John Soper, D-Thornton, pointed out that most universities already require their installation and that most state nursing home facilities use boilers, which are physically separate from living quarters.

HB 1091 now moves on to a third and final reading in the House before heading over to the Senate.

Mandatory Carbon Monoxide Monitor Bill Clears Committee

A bill that would require builders to install carbon monoxide alarms in every new home, and place the same obligation on sellers of existing homes and landlords, cleared a House committee Tuesday.

HB 1091, which sponsors say was inspired by the November 2008 deaths of a prominent Denver family due to carbon monoxide poisoning, was approved by the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee on a 9-2 vote.

The bill had been heard at an emotional hearing two weeks ago, during which the father of a Denver college student killed in yet another recent carbon monoxide poisoning incident tearfully pleaded for the measure's passage.

Republicans unsuccessfully sought to amend the bill to force state universities and colleges to install carbon monoxide alarms in all dormitory rooms, though sponsoring Rep. John Soper, D-Thornton, said he would seek input on that proposal from college administrators and consider whether to add it when the bill is considered on the floor of the House of Representatives.

As it stands, HB 1091 would leave enforcement to local government and would not impose liability for malfunctioning alarms on builders or landlords.

Two Republican representatives, Amy Stephens of Monument and Larry Liston of Colorado Springs, joined with the Democrats on the committee in support of the bill. The GOP's David Balmer, of Centennial, and freshman Rep. Laura Bradford of Collbran voted "no."

Mandatory CO Monitor Bill To Get Committee Hearing Thursday

A House committee will hear Thursday a bill that aims to require all homes put up for sale in Colorado, whether new or existing, and all apartments to have carbon monoxide detectors.

HB 1091, named for its sponsors after the Lofgren family of Denver, is expected to draw support from firefighters in addition to state health officials.

"We have lost too many Colorado lives over the past few months," Rep. John Soper,
D-Thornton, a sponsor of the bill, said. "We must do everything we can to prevent these tragedies from occurring again. I am an electrician and I know that the installation of carbon monoxide detectors is a reasonable addition to new homes that can prevent senseless deaths and injuries.”

Soper and cosponsoring Rep. Lois Court, D-Denver, said they are motivated to push the bill after the Lofgren family of Denver died in a west slope carbon monoxide poisoning incident over the Thanksgiving weekend. Since then a University of Denver college student also died of CO poisoning in her apartment.

Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, will carry the bill in the Senate.