The Fundamentalist LDS Church has been the principal target of Safety Net outreach efforts. The Utah Attorney General's Office hopes lawmakers will appropriate money toward a nonprofit organization that will coordinate the effort, with oversight from a steering committee.

Valentine said Shurtleff can make a case for supporting women and children in Utah, regardless of where they come from.

"If he just says, 'I want $300,000 for a polygamy czar' — no, he won't be able to win that appropriation," Valentine said.

Murphy said equal access to justice, safety and resources that can help needs to be made available to people in isolated polygamous communities.

"This is a state issue, and it's about time that the state is stepping forward to help address it," he said. "And to help pay for someone to resolve all the issues and all the problems that have been caused by 100 years of closing our eyes and assuming there wasn't any problems."

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