Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake City, amended the House-passed bill to make sodomy among consenting adults legal.

And while he faced no opposition Wednesday from a five-member Senate committee, the provision is sure to raise eyebrows when it hits the Senate floor.

McCoy, the state's only openly gay senator, drafted his own bill that would have removed Utah's anti-sodomy law, but conservative Republicans led by West Jordan GOP Sen. Chris Buttars have blocked it from a public hearing.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 2003 Texas case that every state's anti-sodomy law is unconstitutional. But even if Utah's law blocking anal or oral sex is not enforceable, some lawmakers don't want to get rid of it for political reasons.

Buttars, for one, believes stripping the law would endorse sodomy.

No one spoke out against McCoy's amendment and McCoy did not directly address what the amendment would do.

After the hearing McCoy would only say: "I figured I would give it a shot and see what happens."

The sponsor of the sex offender bill, Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, told the committee that he didn't have a problem with the amendment, though he worried it could derail his bill.

"I personally have a problem with sodomy and the court ruling, but they ruled and we have to abide by it," Wimmer told The Salt Lake Tribune after the hearing.

Committee member Sen. Jon Greiner, R-Ogden, promised Wimmer to remove the sodomy provision if it threatened Wimmer's bill.

The main purpose of the legislation is to boost the prison sentences for violent sexual offenses. Wimmer, a former sex crimes detective, now works for the West Valley City Police Department.

His bill would set the punishment for rape, aggravated sexual abuse and child kidnapping convictions at a term of 15 years to life on a first offense and life in prison without the possibility of parole on the second offense .

The current law sets the punishment at five years to life.

The minimum punishment in the bill would not be mandatory, rather it would set the standard. The parole board could let the convicted criminal out early if the members felt it was appropriate.

Wimmer's proposal would also add an additional five years in prison for every previous sexual offense when a person is convicted of enticing a minor over the Internet.

Another bill sponsored by Wimmer that the committee unanimously approved on Wednesday would drop the statute of limitations on rape cases.

The current statute of limitations for filing criminal charges is four years.

mcanham@sltrib.com

HB86

Would increase penalties for sex crimes and repeal anti-sodomy law.

Next step: Goes to the full Senate.