PROVIDENCE -- The Bonardis, of Lincoln, never expected to have to bury
their son, Billy. They did expect their government to respond to the
disaster that killed him.
With unanimous Senate approval yesterday of legislation prompted by The
Station nightclub fire, William and Dorothy Bonardi said they got what
they wanted.
The legislation, named the Comprehensive Fire Safety Act of 2003, would
strike the grandfather exemption from modern fire code, require more
mandatory sprinklers, ban pyrotechnics in most indoor entertainment
venues, and give fire inspectors greater power.
The House approved identical legislation last week by a 71-to-0 vote.
The Senate vote yesterday was 38 to 0.
The two chambers still need to pass each other's bills -- essentially a
formality because the bills are the same and the support unanimous, said
Larry Berman, spokesman for House Speaker William J. Murphy, D-West
Warwick.
Those votes probably will be early next week.
Governor Carcieri is looking forward to signing the legislation, he said
in a statement last night.
The Bonardis joined Raymond and Diane Mattera in the Senate chamber
yesterday for the vote. The Matteras' daughter, Tammy Mattera-Housa,
died at 29 in the nightclub fire.
The families of those who perished have insisted that the grandfather
exemption that shields old buildings from modern fire code "was one law
that should never have been written" -- and must be eliminated, William
Bonardi said yesterday.
The fire-safety legislation would repeal the grandfather clause,
effective next Feb. 20, the one-year anniversary of The Station fire. In
place of the exemption, the bill would adopt the National Fire
Protection Association's codes for new and existing buildings.
The families have been just as insistent, Bonardi said, that more
nightclubs should be forced to have sprinklers. The legislation would
require nightclubs with maximum occupancies from 150 to 300 to install
sprinklers by July 1, 2006. Larger establishments would have to install
them by July 1, 2005.
Clubs with capacities above 150 would need exit signs near the floor, so
they would be easier to see if the room fills with smoke.
"It's a great comforting thing to know that . . . other states may
follow" with similar legislation, Bonardi said.
The requirements of the bill come directly from the report of a
17-member legislative commission on fire safety, which for nine weeks
studied the state's safety codes.
Sen. John Celona, D-North Providence, a co-chair of the special
commission, said on the Senate floor that the bill "lets the families
know that their loved one's lives were not lost in vain."
Sen. Joseph Polisena, D-Johnston, also a member of the special
commission, acknowledged yesterday that he had doubted, at first, the
commission's ability to review the fire codes without getting tangled in
politics. "I was wrong," he said.
Polisena said that Rhode Island must pass the legislation and then guard
it from future lawmakers who might want to weaken it as memories of The
Station fire become more distant.
Enforcing the new fire codes probably will require more inspectors and a
larger budget for the state fire marshal.
Rep. Paul Sherlock, D-Warwick, the chairman of the House Finance
Committee, said yesterday that "there's a lot of sentiment toward
helping . . . the fire marshal's office" with money for more people,
though the numbers have not been finalized.
"I am telling you that there is favorability on it," Sherlock said.
Senate President William Irons agreed. "There is a commitment to
increasing the size of [the fire marshal's] department to deal with
enforcement issues," he said.
-- With reports from Katherine Gregg of the State House bureau
DIGITAL EXTRA:
Read the full text of the fire-safety legislation passed by the Senate.
