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Heather Wolsey received the first protective order against her ex-husband in 2012, she said Thursday, and has spent more than four years appearing before various judges to renew legal protections for herself and her children.

"I have been through hell," Wolsey said. "I shouldn't have to live this way."

Her ex-husband, Ronald Wolsey, has a protracted history with law enforcement, including years of abuse allegations, jail time for a stalking conviction and a place on the Utah County Sheriff's Office most wanted list last year.

But the patchwork of short-term protective orders offered to Heather Wolsey, she said, has required her to repeatedly face a man she says has threatened and attempted to kill her.

"Knowing that I have to go and face my abuser and beg to have a piece of paper from the court telling him to stay away from me is absolutely absurd," Wolsey said. "The courts have found these people guilty. We should be protected."

Wolsey's comments came during a hearing for HB248, which would establish procedures for continuous protective orders within the state, offering long-term legal protections for victims of crime.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. LaVar Christensen, R-Draper, said the state has made considerable progress toward protecting victims in the lead-up to a trial. But a "heart-wrenching deficiency" exists, he said, in that often those efforts cease at the time that guilt is established in court.

"Any protections that were previously in place," Christensen said, "they somehow expire and go away."

HB248 allows for protective orders to be permanent in cases of domestic violence, with a provision for those orders to be modified or dismissed after a period of two years and by discretion of a judge.

Violation of a continuous protective order would constitute a Class A misdemeanor, the bill states, and would be considered as a separate offense of domestic violence and subject to increased penalties.

Christensen said the bill, if enacted, would decrease the burden on victims to repeatedly engage with the court system.

"You can't ask the victim to keep getting lawyers and keep reliving it," he said.

The House Judiciary Committee voted 11-0 to advance the bill to the House floor, but several committee members suggested fine-tuning of the bill's language could be needed before the House debate.

Questions were asked about the two-year minimum term for continuous orders, and potential conflicts between continuous protective orders and parental rights. But lawmakers said those concerns should not hold the bill from advancing through the legislative process.

"I think it's something we ought to send forward," said Rep. Brian King, D-Salt Lake City.

Twitter: @bjaminwood