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Legislation inspired by the Casey Anthony saga unanimously passed the Florida Senate this afternoon and is about to become a state law. The bill would make it a felony for parents to lie to police about their missing child. As Whitney Ray tells us, if the bill were law during the Casey Anthony Trial, she might be in prison for 20 years.

Caylee Anthony was missing for more than a month before police were notified. She was found dead four months later. Her mom Casey Anthony was tried for her murder. She beat the charges.

“I think it was terrible what she did,” said Paula Parth.

Paula followed the Casey Anthony trial. A mother of two herself, she was confounded to learn that Casey didn’t report her child missing to the police.

“I would want them to help me as fast as they could,” said Paula.

Casey was convicted on four counts of lying to police during their investigation to find Caylee. In Florida the crime is a misdemeanor, but that’s about to change. State Senator Joe Negron has ushered a bill through the process making it a felony for a parent to lie to police about their missing child.

“If you intentionally mislead the police and a child ends up seriously injured or deceased there are going to be severe felony penalties for that,” said Negron.

Paula thinks the change in law is needed. She says if police had known about the missing toddler earlier, things might have turned out differently.

“They wasted valuable time. Maybe she could have been found alive,” said Paula. “She lied. She should be put in jail for that.”

The bill makes the crime a third degree felony, carrying a penalty of five years in prison per charge. The bill was originally hyped as Caylee’s law, but the sponsor changed its name. He wanted to let people know it was being drafted broad enough to protect all Florida children.