DENVER—Colorado lawmakers will again consider requiring all homes to have carbon monoxide detectors following the death of a college student due to carbon monoxide poisoning.
Lauren Johnson, 23, of Vancouver, Wash., died Monday after being taken from a unit at a Denver apartment building, according to Michelle Weiss-Samaras, Denver’s chief deputy coroner. Investigators said a faulty boiler vent that was damaged during a windstorm may have led to high levels of carbon monoxide in the unit.
Johnson was a graduate student at the University of Denver.
State Sen. Chris Romer, a Denver Democrat whose district includes Johnson’s apartment building, said Wednesday he will ask legislative leaders to speed up consideration of a bill so it could become law by next week.
Bill sponsor Rep. John Soper, D-Thornton, said he wants to have testimony on the bill—but that it’s possible legislation could be passed within the first month of the 2009 session that began Wednesday.
A similar measure failed last year following opposition from home builders.
In November, four members of a Denver family died in a luxury home near Aspen where high levels of carbon monoxide were found. Romer also represented that family—Parker and Caroline Lofgren and their two children.
