House Has Competing 'Caylee's Law' Bills

The Florida House now has two filed bills vying for the title of "Caylee's Law."

In the uproar and aftermath of Casey Anthony's acquittal last week in Orlando of the 2008 murder of her daughter, Caylee, Florida legislators were quick to announce their disgust. She did not report Caylee missing for more than one month, and was convicted of four counts of lying to investigators, but was released Wednesday for time served.

Rep. Jose Diaz, R-Miami, was the first to file a bill to be named "Caylee's Law" last week. The bill makes it a third-degree felony for a parent, guardian or caregiver to fail to report the disappearance of a child to law enforcement within 48 hours, if the child is subsequently harmed. A parent could be arrested and charged with a second-degree felony for not reporting the death and location of a minor's corpse to law enforcement officials within two hours of the body's discovery. Lying to a law enforcemnt officer during a missing child investigation would be a second-degree felony under the bill.

Diaz's bill now has no less than 21 co-sponsors, but Rep. Bill Hager, R-Boca Raton, isn't one of them. He filed his own "Caylee's Law" bill Wednesday, after sending out a press release last week announcing his intention to file such a bill.

Hager's bill differs only slightly, specifying that it applies to minors 12 years old or younger. It also makes the failure to report a minor's death a third-degree felony instead of a second-degree felony.