Bill would broaden carbon monoxide rules

RALEIGH Responding to last years deaths at a Boone hotel, North Carolina lawmakers are proposing to broaden and clarify laws on carbon monoxide alerts in hotels and other lodgings.

The provision, part of a giant regulatory bill approved Wednesday by a Senate committee, would require alarms not just detectors near heaters, appliances and fireplaces that burn combustion fuels.

The bottom line will be that we add carbon monoxide alarms where we need to protect the public and prevent future deaths, said Rep. Ruth Samuelson, a Charlotte Republican.

Samuelson co-chairs the Environmental Review Commission, which made the proposal with input from fire marshals, building inspectors and state insurance officials.

The new requirement would apply to extended-stay tourist homes, bed and breakfast properties, as well as hotels and other lodgings.

The proposal rewrites portions of a law enacted last year after three people died of carbon monoxide poisoning at the Best Western in Boone. It replaces a portion that just required detectors, not alarms.

Lynn Minges, president and chief executive officer for the N.C. Restaurant & Lodging Association, said her group supports the new measure.

Minges said the bill simply clarifies language in the carbon monoxide alarm bill that went into effect last year.

It would end confusion about extended stay motels by making it clear they must install alarms, Minges said.

The only significant change contained in the new proposal would put local fire departments in charge of enforcing the law, she said. Now, local health departments perform that duty, but Minges said many of them don't have expertise with carbon monoxide alarms.

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Bill would broaden carbon monoxide rules