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 MILWAUKEE (AP) - Day care providers in Wisconsin now must install alarm systems in their vehicles to help prevent drivers from leaving children behind.

Gov. Jim Doyle signed the requirement into law Friday at a Milwaukee day care, flanked by the parents of a 4-month-old boy who died after being left in a van last month.

"I sign it today as a tribute to Jalen," Doyle said.

A Milwaukee day care driver picked up Jalen Knox-Perkins on April 9 but mistakenly left him in the van for five hours with the windows rolled up. The heat killed Jalen, who had a blanket and jacket over him.

The bill, formally called the Jalen Knox-Perkins Day Care Van Alarm Bill, requires day care centers to install in some vehicles alarms that must be manually turned off when the vehicle is parked. The alarm button goes in the rear of vans, forcing drivers to walk to the back and, in theory, check each seat along the way.

"This is bittersweet for us as a family," said Marcus Perkins, Jalen's father, "but as long as something good came out of this, I'm happy."

Along with Jalen, at least two other Milwaukee-area children have died since 2005 after they were left in day care vehicles for hours.

Under the new law, drivers who knowingly transport children in vehicles without alarms can be charged with a misdemeanor, carrying up to a year in jail and $1,000 in fines.

People who turns off the alarms without checking the vehicles can be charged with a felony punishable by up to 3.5 years in prison and $10,000 in fines.

Doyle said the alarms cost $150 to $300 and are a small investment in the safety of Wisconsin's children.

Angela Lampkin, education director for the Child Development Center of St. Joseph in Milwaukee, said she was disappointed the bill doesn't go further. It only applies to vehicles that can transport at least six passengers and to licensed child care providers.

"School systems transport children too," she said. "What happens to them if a child is left behind?"

She also wondered whether day care centers would be allowed to take children on field trips on chartered buses that aren't equipped with the alarms.

A better solution, she said, would be to have state licensers do more ride-alongs to get a better sense of how head-count procedures work. That would show the state is taking the matter seriously, she said.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)