Residential elevator safety bill inspired by Bradenton boy's death passes final Florida Senate panel

A bill promoting residential elevator safety, prompted by the tragic death of a Bradenton child, is headed to the Senate floor after it passed its final Senate committee Wednesday afternoon in the Florida Legislature.

The bill requires all newly installed residential elevators to have a sensor similar to a garage door to stop the elevator from working if it detects something in the shaft. It would apply to all residential elevators built after the law takes effect.

The law will be named after Maxwell Eric Grablin, who was 12 when he died in an accident in January 2015.

Max was looking for his pet hamster in the elevator shaft, which he did by stopping the elevator between floors so he could climb in and get the hamster. The elevator wouldn't operate while the doors were open. Somehow, the door slammed shut, which a child fatality report by the Department of Children and Families attributed to wind. When Patrick Grablin heard his son yelling from inside the shaft, he instinctively hit the button to open the door, but it also made the elevator descend on top of Max, suffocating him.

Max was the only child of Dr. Patrick Grablin and Karin Grablin.

The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, passed Wednesday without debate.

One amendment to the bill allows local building inspectors to enforce the proposed

law starting in October.

The House version, sponsored by state Rep. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, unanimously passed its first subcommittee Jan. 26. Its other two required House hearings before it can reach the House floor have not yet been scheduled.

Kate Irby, Herald online/political reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7055. You can follow her on Twitter @KateIrby

This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 11:11 PM with the headline "Residential elevator safety bill inspired by Bradenton boy's death passes final Florida Senate panel ."