The Associated Press

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Two days after Christmas, Richard Lueders and his son Thomas woke up in their Key West hotel room and began to plan their day.

"We wanted to do a little father and son bonding,'' Richard Lueders said.

They never got the chance. Richard went to take a shower, and last remembers seeing his 26-year-old son reading on the bed in the room at the Doubletree Grand Key Resort. Shortly after, as Richard showered, both were overcome by carbon monoxide fumes from an adjoining boiler room.

Thomas Lueders died.

On Tuesday, Richard Lueders and Thomas' mother, Beth Thomas, pleaded with a Senate panel to require carbon monoxide detectors in Florida hotels.

A few other states, including New York, Texas and Illinois have similar laws in place. Some big hotel chains, including Marriott and La Quinta, have installed detectors on their own.

"If you think carbon monoxide poisoning is something that can't happen to you ... I'm here to tell you that is not the case,'' said Lueders, a human resources executive who lives in Grosse Pointe Park, Mich.

The Senate Regulated Industries Committee unanimously approved the bill (SB 1840) requiring that carbon monoxide detectors be placed in certain hotel and motel areas where there may be a carbon monoxide hazard. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Charlie Justice, D-St. Petersburg, has two more committee hearings before it can go to the full Senate for a vote. A version of the bill (HB 1303) is sponsored in the House by Rep. Ron Saunders, D-Key West.

Originally, the measure would have required detectors in individual hotel rooms. But the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association estimated the cost to install a detector at about $25 per room and with 400,000 hotel rooms in the state, the impact on the industry would have been about $10 million.

But the bill was changed to lessen the impact, now requiring detectors only in areas where carbon monoxide is produced, such as a boiler room.

Now, the association is on record in favor of the bill. It's also supported by the Florida Justice Association, a trial lawyers' group, the senior lobby AARP, as well as consumer groups and firefighters.

More than 500 people die in the United States each year from carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Lueders held up a $20 detector and said the simple device could have saved his son, an aspiring writer.

Lueders said the colorless, odorless gas first impairs a victim's ability to recognize danger. He noted that as a well-educated, healthy marathon runner, he never thought he was particularly vulnerable to much - but he was rendered powerless by the carbon monoxide, floating out of the boiler room next door.

"Ten feet away my son was dying and there was nothing I could do,'' Lueders said. "I would have done anything, anything to trade places with my son. I could not run back into the 'burning' building - it doesn't give you that chance.''

The Doubletree Grand Key was closed after Thomas Lueders' death and only reopened earlier this month.

Hotel operators said they worked with Key West fire officials to ensure it was safe.

"We are determined to make this the safest hotel in the state in terms of carbon monoxide and fire safety,'' Tony Dzianott, of Heartland Hotel Corp., said in a statement. "We want our guests to know that their safety is our top priority, and for the industry to learn from our experience.''

Thomas Lueders' family has sued the hotel.