Inspired by the 2004 murder of Lori Hacking, the bill would mandate that a person convicted of first-degree felony murder spend at least 15 years behind bars.

Currently, the minimum sentence for murder is five years.

The law also would assure family members of murder victims that the crime would not be regarded lightly, according to the bill's sponsor, Rep. Lorie Fowlke, R-Orem.

"Victims need to feel they have been dealt with fairly, as well [as] . . . understand that the judicial system does take this very seriously," Fowlke said.

When a judge imposes the five-years-to-life term, victims often believe there is a possibility the killer will serve five years in prison.

That was the public perception when Mark Hacking was sentenced last year to five years to life for shooting his wife, Lori Hacking, and disposing of her body in a trash bin.

Creation of the bill was championed by Lori Hacking's father, Eraldo Soar- es, who contends that such a law could help deter other husbands from killing their wives.

In addition to increasing the minimum sentence to 15 years, the bill would require the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole - the ultimate arbiter of how long a person stays in prison - to consider it an aggravating factor if the murder is committed by a person in a "position of trust," such as a spouse, parent or cohabitant.

The same aggravating factor would also have to be considered by judges in second-degree felony manslaughter cases, where they have the discretion of imposing probation rather than prison.

Fowlke said she knows of no opposition to the bill, which she expects will "sail through" the Legislature.

She noted that prosecutors, members of the state's Sentencing Commission and Corrections officials worked on drafting the bill or were consulted.

In practice, the bill would have little effect on prison sentences. According to parole board statistics, killers convicted of first-degree felony murder serve at least 20 years.

The board, in fact, already has decided that Hacking, 29, will not get his first chance to ask for release until he has served at least 30 years behind bars.

Hacking shot his sleeping 27-year-old wife with a .22-caliber rifle in the early hours of July 19, 2004.

He then threw her body, a mattress and the murder weapon into Dumpsters. Lori Hacking's remains were found at the landfill three months later.

The slaying occurred as the couple was about to relocate to North Carolina, where Mark Hacking claimed he had been accepted to attend medical school.

But a day after Hacking reported his wife had disappeared while jogging, police discovered he had lied about being accepted at the school.

On July 24, 2004, Hacking confessed to his brothers, Lance and Scott Hacking, that he killed Lori after she had discovered his lies. Hacking pleaded guilty to murder last April.