Eye on hotel safety

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On the same day that state Sen. David Thomas, R- Fountain Inn, introduced a bill to require hotels to warn potential customers if the facility does not have a sprinkler system, state Sen. Verne Smith, R-Greer, introduced another bill to require that all hotels have this safety feature by July 2007.

The bills are not mutually exclusive, and both state lawmakers are reacting appropriately to the tragic Comfort Inn hotel fire that killed six and injured 12 on Jan. 25. The hotel did not have sprinklers, and it was built before they were required.

Thomas' bill deserves immediate approval in the Senate and equally quick approval in the state House. It would require hotels to give customers some critically needed information. Earlier this week, Thomas said he also is looking into ways to encourage hotels to add sprinklers through "carrots" such as tax incentives.

House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, told Greenville News reporter Tim Smith that his staff is "looking at what other states do, what the penalties are. You could flat require it and there would be a criminal penalty, or you could propose tax credits to offer incentives."

There's time to research and debate the better way to go about getting sprinklers into older hotels in South Carolina. But while that discussion is taking place, people deserve to know if the hotel they're checking into has a lifesaving sprinkler system.