Sen. Chris Romer asked, as usual, for his colleagues' votes Thursday. But then he sought something else: forgiveness.

Sitting 10 yards from the microphone, on the side of the Senate chamber, was Don Johnson, whose daughter, Lauren, died of carbon monoxide poisoning last month.

In his line of sight was Romer, a Denver Democrat who last year voted against a bill that would have mandated carbon-monoxide detectors in homes and apartments that are new or changing occupants.

Romer's vote was key in defeating the measure.

This year, Romer not only voted for a similar bill — he sponsored it.

"While we cannot change the past — including my vote last year against a similar bill, for which I ask for forgiveness — we can prevent these deaths in the future," Romer said while looking at Johnson and his wife, Carol.

With that, the Senate gave near-unanimous preliminary approval to House Bill 1091.

Since Thanksgiving, carbon monoxide has claimed the lives of five of Romer's constituents, including Lauren.

Sen. Bill Cadman, a Colorado Springs Republican known for his jokes, brought the chamber to a hush as he told of switching his vote during a committee hearing Thursday. As Johnson retold the story of his daughter's death in a University of Denver-area apartment, Cadman sent an e-mail to his wife begging her to check on their home's detector and make sure it was working.

"I couldn't in good conscience vote against this bill," Cadman said. "I thank family members yesterday for showing us why this bill should pass."

A few minutes later, Cadman walked over and hugged Don and Carol Johnson.

The Johnsons said later their push for the law has been hard: Lauren died on Jan. 5 and Don showed up to testify in the measure's first committee hearing on Jan. 13 with her ashes in an urn beside him. But Lauren was an activist in areas ranging from environmental protection to social justice, and she would have asked them to do this, they said.

"There's been a lot of tears through this process," he said. "But had you known Lauren, she was an incredibly strong person. So we do all of this with her in mind."

The bill, first called the Lofgren Family Carbon Monoxide Safety Act after the Denver family of four who died Thanksgiving night in Aspen, was renamed Thursday as the Lofgren and Johnson Families Carbon Monoxide Safety Act.

It is expected to be given final approval today and to be signed by Gov. Bill Ritter in the coming weeks.