House Criminal Justice Subcommittee Backs Caylee's Law

The House is moving forward with a version of a bill(that differs from the Senate effort)inspired by the emotional outburst that resulted following a courtroom drama in Orlando last summer.

On Wednesday, the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee backed, without opposition and little comment, HB 37, which requires a caregiver to report within 48 hours if any child 12 or younger is missing. Failure to do so would be a third-degree felony, the penalty bumped up to a second-degree felony if the child is harmed while missing.

The House bill also requires the caregiver to report a childs death within two hours.

Unlike the Senate version, the House bill is called "Caylees Law, named after 2-year-old Caylee Anthony, whose mother, Casey Anthony, was acquitted last summer of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and aggravated manslaughter in the girls death.

The Orlando woman was convicted of four misdemeanor counts of providing false information to a law enforcement officer.

The Senate bill, SB 858, simply seeks to make it a third-degree felony for any person who provides misleading information to law enforcement during a missing child investigation where the child -- age 16 or younger -- is later found to have been injured.

Currently, providing false information is a misdemeanor.

Caylee Anthony was reported missing July 15, 2008. It was later determined the child, later found dead, had been missing for 30 days and during the investigation law enforcement reported Casey Anthony made a number of false statements regarding herself and the location of her daughter.