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Committee hears urgent calls to tighten elevator rules as state weighs code cycle change
Summary
State Department of Administrative Services warned the committee that a proposed statewide elevator enforcement scheme would require more staff and funding, while firefighters, police and residents urged stronger oversight and municipal enforcement tools to prevent life‑threatening outages in high‑rise housing.
Lawmakers and first responders pressed for stronger tools to keep elevators in tall residential buildings working after repeated outages that they said have delayed medical care and trapped elderly and disabled residents.
At a March 5 Public Safety and Security Committee hearing, Department of Administrative Services Commissioner Michelle Gilman told legislators that while the department supports the safety goals behind Senate Bill 369 it lacks the staff and systems to carry out some of the centralized enforcement measures the bill would require. Gilman said many of the bill’s goals are being addressed in the 2026 Connecticut State Building Code, scheduled to take effect July 1, 2026, but cautioned that provisions such as relocating tenants or recouping costs from owners could create new administrative and legal workloads for the agency.
Omeris Vasquez, the state building inspector introduced by DAS, explained the…
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