A House panel ignored the objections of a polygamous group Thursday and voted to criminalize plural marriages with minors.
The bill makes it illegal for parents and church officials to arrange and facilitate such marriages involving children.
Sen. Marilyn Jarrett, R-Mesa, said new laws are necessary to ensure that girls 17 and younger are not forced into plural marriages with older men.
She said that is the apparent practice of members of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints who inhabit Colorado City, on the state's northern border, and Hilldale, across the line in Utah.
"The thought of taking one of my daughters at the age of 13 or 14 and giving her to a man 40, 50 years old does things that frighten me," said Jarrett, the mother of four girls.
There was no one from the church group to testify before the House Judiciary Committee, which approved the bill 10-1. But there were objections from residents of nearby Centennial Park.
Joanne Yarrish said members of her fundamentalist Mormon community do not believe in or practice child polygamy. But she said many do practice plural marriage and fear the language in SB 1335 eventually could be used against them.
"These definitions could become more broadly applied to consenting adults who are involved in polygamous relationships or other nontraditional unions and could be used to punish relationships, not unlawful sexual conduct," Yarrish said.
The state Constitution prohibits polygamous relationships. But the only criminal law on the books makes it illegal to have more than one state-sanctioned spouse. The Attorney General's Office says that law cannot be applied against adults or children in polygamous communities because second and subsequent weddings are recognized only by the church.
Yarrish noted there already are laws against adults having sexual contact with minors.
But Assistant Attorney General Richard Travis said this legislation also arms prosecutors with the ability to go after parents who force their children into these polygamous relationships, as well as the church leaders who arrange and conduct these "celestial" marriages that are not recognized by the state.