TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A Florida bill fighting to save children from hot car deaths is one signature away from becoming law.
Senate Bill 554, also called Ariya’s Act, would designate April as “Hot Car Death Prevention Month,” and it calls for the Department of Children and Families, the Department of Health, local governments, and other agencies to sponsor events that educate the public on the dangers of leaving a child unattended in a vehicle.
Just last month the Florida Senate Committee voted to unanimously pass the bill. On Wednesday, Ariya’s Act was unanimously passed again in the Florida Senate.
Ariya’s family has been front and center at the state capitol every step of the way through the process.
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The act is named after 10-month-old Ariya Paige, who was left in her babysitter’s SUV for five hours before she died on one of the hottest days in July.
Baker County investigators said Ariay’s babysitter, 48-year-old Rhonda Jewell, was tending to other children she was babysitting when she forgot Ariya was still in the SUV.
After Ariya’s death, her family reached out to lawmakers to propose a bill that would help prevent other children from suffering Ariya’s fate. Pamela and James Paige are Ariya’s grandparents.
“If one child, just one child, is saved because of what will be Ariya’s Law, then our granddaughter did not die in vain,” Pamela said.
They said they were excited after the vote because it’s been a “short time but a long road” for the grieving family.
Last year, 29 children across the United States died from being left in hot vehicles. Florida accounted for seven of those deaths, making it the state with the most fatalities, and Ariya was the 16th child to die.
“To this day, I still can’t wrap my head around it. She was such a sweet baby. You had to feed her. You had to change her. Why didn’t you think about her? She was unforgettable, so how could you forget her? I’ll never understand it. We’ll eventually have forgiveness in our hearts, but it’s something we can never forget,” Ariya’s grandparents said.
Jewell is set to go to trial in June.
Pamela acknowledged having to cross that hurdle when the trial comes.
“We will have to. It will be difficult. It will probably be one of the most difficult things will have to do in our lives, especially my son and his wife, Justice and Brooke. They will have to relive all of this,” she said.