SALT LAKE CITY — JoAnn Otten described in detail the abuse suffered by her granddaughter at the hands of the girl's biological father and voiced her support for a measure to create a child abuse registry.

Rep. Derrin Owens, R-Fountain Green, last week introduced HB149, also known as "Miley's Bill," alongside Otten, Miley's grandmother. The measure proposes to add a child abuse registry to the existing sex offender registry website, providing the public with information about felony child abusers.

"This would be another link on that website," Owens said. "I’m not sure why the sex offender registry was ever even begun without child abuse on there."

Otten, board chairwoman with Friends of the Sanpete Children's Justice Center and deputy recorder of the Manti City Council, took the opportunity to share with state lawmakers her family's troubling experience with child abuse.

On Oct. 16, 2013, Miley suffered from shaken-baby syndrome at the hands of her biological father, Gary Hansen, she said.

Otten said she had been called by Hansen that day and was the first person to respond, seeing her granddaughter in a near lifeless state. Hansen claimed that Miley had been choking, but it was later revealed that she had been shaken in frustration and left to herself until Hansen decided to call Otten.

Miley was given a 20 percent chance of survival, and when she recovered, her family came to find that she would have a severely decreased standard of life.

The abuse had come as both a severe emotional and financial pain to her family. Miley had to relearn how to eat, interact and even play with toys, and her mother, Chelsea, takes her to Orem every other week for physical therapy and for speech therapy.

"Miley’s biological father was sentenced to one to 15 years for felony child abuse. Miley received a life sentence," Otten said. "Gary may not have killed Miley that day, but he certainly killed the girl and the woman that she was meant to be."

The cost of child abuse is not just physical and emotional, she said, but there are also significant costs to society.

Owens expressed the hope that HB149 will achieve awareness and prevention of further abuse.

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The bill received strong support from the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee, as well as Bikers Against Child Abuse, who attended the committee hearing last week to support Otten and Owens.

The bill, however, was held in committee by a unanimous vote after Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, suggested that a simple change to the language could allow a child abuse registry website to have its stand-alone space.

"I drafted the original sex offender registry, and when we first drafted it, it was a sex offender registry — period," Ray said. "The whole idea when we originally drafted it was to not let it get watered down and to make sure that it actually meant something."

Ray expressed concerns with the ways he believes the sex offender registry has been softened since its creation, and he shared a desire that a child abuse registry not suffer the same fate.

"I noticed that the fiscal note for the current bill is $61,000,” he said. "I really think that for almost that much we could fund a stand-alone child abuse registry, which I think is the stronger way to do it."

The committee unanimously agreed to keep the bill and allow Owens to change the language so a separate website could be created for a child abuse registry.

"I’m absolutely thrilled," Otten said. "I think for us to have our own site will be wonderful, and I know that Rep. Ray will help us and get the best bill that we can get."

Indiana passed similar legislation last year, becoming the first state with a child abuse registry website. If Owens' measure passes, Utah would become the only other state with a child abuse registry.

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