Dive Brief:
- U.S. Reps. Angie Craig (D-MN) and Mike Levin (D-CA) reintroduced legislation to Congress that would require carbon monoxide detectors to be installed in every hotel and short-term rental room in the country, according to an announcement Thursday.
- Rep. Craig previously introduced the bill, dubbed the Stay Safe Act, in 2020. In its earlier version, the Safe Stay Act was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology but did not move out of the committee.
- A similar law went into effect in Minnesota in August of last year, according to the announcement, though the majority of states do not require in-room carbon monoxide detectors. The American Hotel & Lodging Association has previously encouraged hotels to install carbon monoxide monitoring equipment in spaces with fuel-burning appliances and in immediately attached spaces “at a minimum.”
Dive Insight:
Craig initially introduced the Stay Safe Act in response to the hospitalization of Minnesotan Leslie Lienemann and her son, who were poisoned in a Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham in Warren, Michigan, in 2019, per The New York Times.
“My son and I suffer life-long physical and emotional effects of carbon monoxide poisoning because there was no carbon monoxide alarm in our hotel room,” Lienemann said in a statement on Craig’s website. “Carbon monoxide is undetectable without a CO alarm.”
“We have the tools to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning and save lives — and we should be using them,” Craig said in a statement.
The bill specifies that compliant carbon monoxide alarms must be installed “in each sleeping or dwelling unit within each place of public accommodation affecting commerce.”
Currently, only 14 states require carbon monoxide detectors in hospitality settings, according to the John Wesley Heathco Legacy Foundation, which was founded after American travelers John Heathco and Abby Lutz died of carbon monoxide poisoning at a Hyatt resort in Mexico in 2023.
AHLA’s Safe Stay initiative, which offers guidelines for hotels, encourages hotels to adhere to the fire and mechanical codes in their respective jurisdictions. It also says hotel staff should be familiar with their property’s carbon monoxide monitoring capabilities — including the location of detectors and sounds of alarms — and be trained in emergency procedures.
“Johnny’s death should never have happened, and no family should have to endure the devastation that we have had to live with for nearly two years, and that we will live with for the rest of our lives,” said John Heathco’s parents, Chuck and Jill Heathco, and his sister and brother-in-law, Keri and Tyler Bliss, in a joint statement obtained by Hotel Dive.
The issue of carbon monoxide poisoning made headlines earlier this year when three American tourists died in a hotel room in Belize, per NBC News.
The Stay Safe Act was again referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology on Thursday.
