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Committee advances bill raising penalties for endangering children under 6
Summary
The House Judiciary Committee voted to pass HB2412 favorably, raising several criminal penalty levels when a child under age 6 is endangered; supporters said it strengthens consequences while some members questioned whether stiffer penalties prevent future harm.
The House Judiciary Committee on an extra hearing day voted to pass HB2412 favorably, a bill that raises penalty levels for the crimes of endangering a child and aggravated endangering when the victim is younger than 6 years old.
The bill briefed to the committee by Jason Thompson of the adviser's office said the measure increases penalties by changing current misdemeanor and severity levels: "under current law, endangering is a class A person misdemeanor, and the bill raises that to a severity level 9 person felony if the child is less than 6 years of age," Thompson said, and specified parallel adjustments for aggravated endangering and related offense categories.
Committee members asked whether the bill changes the definitions of the offenses or only the penalties. Thompson answered that his review showed no substantive change to the elements of the crimes in subsections A and B and that the changes are limited to penalties.
Representative Osman, while saying he supported the bill, cautioned that tougher penalties may not in themselves prevent future tragedies: "Is this going to stop or prevent this sort of tragedy from happening in the future? I don't believe that this will," he said, but added he supported the legislation.
After limited debate, a motion to pass HB2412 favorably for passage was made and seconded; the committee voice-voted 'aye' and the chair announced the bill was passed favorably for passage.
What’s next: The committee recorded at least one member’s affirmative vote in the minutes and proceeded to the next agenda item. The committee did not record a detailed roll-call tally in the hearing record provided.
