Shaily Lee is a West Valley City seventh-grader who took her feelings on animal cruelty to Utah lawmakers on Monday and got a real-life civics lesson she may not soon forget.

Lee attended the morning Senate floor session, and also came prepared with a letter to legislators outlining her position on the current animal cruelty debate. She focused on recognizing connections between the abuse of animals and more serious criminal offenses, and urged stronger penalties.

"Studies show most people who torture animals also or eventually torture people," Lee wrote in her letter. "This is why the punishment needs to better fit the crime. You would not only be protecting Fluffy now, you would also be protecting people in the future by preventing school shootings and homicides."

Monday afternoon, Lee also distributed her letter to members of the House Judiciary Committee, who were preparing to hear HB470. That bill is the third rendition of attempts this session to alter current Utah statutes dealing with animal abusers.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Sheryl Allen, R-Bountiful, seeks a middle ground between SB117, a bill passed by the Senate, and SB102, a failed bill sponsored by Sen. Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake, that would have made a first-offense animal torture conviction punishable as a felony. SB117, sponsored by Sen. Allen Christensen, R-Ogden, only introduces a felony possibility on a second torture offense, if it occurs within five years of the first.

Allen's bill received similar critiques to Davis' bill, including concerns that the agriculture industry was problematic and statements by committee members that equating animal torture penalties with crimes committed against people was inappropriately harsh.

HB470 would create a first-offense felony option for animal torture committed in the presence of a minor, killing an animal as an act associated with domestic violence, an act committed against a companion animal and a second torture conviction intentionally or knowingly committed after a first-offense conviction.

Todd Bingham from the Utah Farm Bureau, who previously testified in favor of Christensen's version of a new animal cruelty law, said that Allen's bill was almost acceptable. He asked the committee to hold it.

Despite other testimony on behalf of Allen's bill, including support from the president of the Utah Veterinary Association and the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office, siding with Bingham's suggestion was the decision of the committee.

As for Lee, although she raised an enthusiastic hand when the committee called for members of the public to testify, she did not get a chance to step up to the witness chair. Still, she said she was somewhat encouraged and hasn't given up hope.

After the hearing, Allen said she still felt positive about her bill's chances and said there was "lots of opportunity" to work out a compromise with the agriculture industry.

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E-mail: araymond@desnews.com