Next step: Goes to full Senate.

Kids' custody

A Senate panel has breathed new life into a bill that some call gay-bashing and others see as a threat to grandparents' and stepparents' rights.

Sponsorinsg Sen. Curt Bramble said his measure had been thoroughly vetted in the year since Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr. vetoed it for fear of "unintended consequences."

"It should not be nearly as contentious," said Bramble.

The Provo Republican said Huntsman has signed off on the new version, which clarifies state law on in loco parentis, the principle of recognizing the relationship between a child and a person who assumes the role of a parent, even when there is no blood tie.

Bramble insisted his bill said nothing new about grandparents' rights and only protects the interests of children. His view was supported by Gayle Ruzicka of the Utah Eagle Forum and Paul Mero of the conservative Sutherland Institute, as well as former state Rep. LaVar Christensen.

Critics included the Family Law Section of the Utah Bar Association and Lauren R. Barros, an attorney representing one member of a former lesbian couple whose daughter prompted a Utah Supreme Court case and Christensen's vetoed bill.

"If this bill is supposed to resolve the issues of last year, it doesn't," Barros said.

Dave Spatafore also testified against the bill. A lobbyist representing himself as a step-grandfather, he told how he thought the bill would harm his family, specifically a step-grandson who lives with him and whose mother suffers from multiple sclerosis and epilepsy. If she dies and the bill passes, Spatafore and his grandson would have to prove that the boy's father is unfit in order to maintain the current relationship, he said.

fahys@sltrib.com