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Subcommittee adopts amendment to homicide-by-child-abuse bill and gives favorable report
Summary
The Criminal Law Subcommittee adopted an amendment to S.405 that Chairman Jeff Johnson said raises the juvenile-victim age threshold and adds protections for victims with intellectual disabilities; the committee voted to forward the bill to the full committee.
Chairman Jeff Johnson said the committee adopted an amendment to Senate Bill 405, the homicide-by-child-abuse measure filed by Senator Alexander, and gave the bill a favorable report to the full committee.
The amendment, Johnson said, "changes the age from 11 to 16" and adds a provision referencing victims with intellectual or related disabilities under Title 44, Chapter 20. Johnson told members the change is intended to address concerns raised in earlier hearings and to extend the statute's reach in cases involving certain disabilities.
Representative Robbie Robbins thanked the chairman for his work to move the bill forward. After brief discussion the committee adopted the amendment and then held a roll call. The clerk recorded "Aye" votes from Chairman Johnson, Representative William Bailey, Representative Robbie Robbins and Representative Seth Rose; the committee found S.405 "favorable as amended." No roll-call "no" or abstention votes were recorded on the transcript.
The chairman said the bill had been considered at previous hearings, that it had generated public testimony, and that members had had time to review the amendment. He closed the item by stating the amended measure will appear on the full committee agenda.
The subcommittee did not record the amendment's final statutory text in the transcript and at one point the chairman's oral summary included an inconsistent reference to who would be covered (the transcript states both "changes the age from 11 to 16" and later uses the phrase "So anybody who is under 15 will be subject"). The committee did not provide a full readout of the amendment language on the record during this session; the committee ordered a roll call and moved the bill forward.
