It's been a year since the body of a newborn girl was found in a trash bag outside a Middleport home, too decomposed after days in the summer heat for the cause and manner of her death to be determined.

The infant's mother, Tara Lynne Paltanavage, was sentenced to four to 23 months in prison on charges of abuse of a corpse and concealing the death of a child, but immediately released on five years' parole.A new state law would increase the penalty for concealing the death of a child, regardless of whether the child was born dead or alive, from a first degree misdemeanor, with a penalty of up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine to a third degree felony, with a penalty of up to seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine.The proposed law would apply to any natural parent, stepparent, adoptive parent, guardian or custodian of a child. The current death concealment law refers only to biological parents.Introduced by Rep. Justin J. Simmons, R-Lehigh, House Bill 424 on May 6 passed a House vote 195-1. Efforts to reach Rep. Bryan Barbin, D-Cambria, the sole opponent, were unsuccessful.The bill is now in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Simmons introduced the legislation during the past two sessions. It passed in the House each time but failed to come up for a vote in the Senate.Simmons urged people, especially those in Schuylkill County, where the Paltanavage baby died, to contact their senators to encourage passage of the bill."It always helps when legislators listen to their constituents. People need to contact their senators and (Senate Judiciary Committee chairman) Stewart Greenleaf to push them to move on this," he said. "Citizen advocacy makes a difference."Simmons introduced his bill, known as Caylee's Law, amid the furor over the case of a Florida woman, Casey Anthony, who kept secret the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, for a month."As you know, during the highly publicized trial of Casey Anthony which took place in Florida, the evidence disclosed that Ms. Anthony waited almost a month before reporting her child, Caylee, missing. She later claimed that Caylee had drowned accidentally but didn't report it as she was afraid of her family's reaction. Since then, there has been a public outcry over Ms. Anthony's concealment of Caylee's death, even if it were accidental as she claimed," he wrote in a Jan. 13 legislative memo."I'd never gotten so many emails from outraged constituents. She was convicted for concealment of death of child, but I felt the penalty wasn't strong enough, so I looked at Pennsylvania's law," he said in a telephone interview. "Even if we could save one life, it's worth doing."The bill has the backing of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association."There is certainly a public interest in a situation where someone is concealing the death of a child. From a humanity perspective, to conceal the death of a child is inconsistent with valuing human life, especially in regard to defenseless children. And as time passes, it makes the investigation that follows to find out what happened and at whose hands, that much more difficult," said Executive Director Richard W. Long."These aspects resonate strongly with the community," he said.State Rep. Jerry Knowles, R-Schuylkill, and Rep. Doyle Heffley, R-Carbon, both co-sponsored the bill."I think it's important that we take this issue seriously," Knowles said. "Sadly, we hear about these types of cases happening all across the country."Heffley said, "Anything we can do protect children is important. This law is a good example of the punishment fitting the crime.""It all comes back to the value of life. I think the most innocent life is that of a child, and the law should value that life as much as any other life. It's unfortunate in society today that we need these types of laws that punish unspeakable acts against children," he said.According to court documents, Paltanavage gave birth on July 29 in the bathroom of the Blythe Township home she shared with two other people.She climbed into the bathtub, turned on the shower, and delivered a girl, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed by trooper John Powis of the Frackville barracks.Paltanavage told police she lifted the newborn out of the water and saw that she wasn't breathing and could not find a pulse. She wrapped the baby in a red towel, and took her into her bedroom. She didn't try to revive the baby, nor did she call for help.Instead, according to the affidavit, she put the baby in a garbage bag, put the bag on a bench in her room and put household trash on top of her baby. Then she took the bag outside to be taken away with the trash.At about 1 a.m. a week later, Paltanavage's housemates at the Middleport home, Kayla Stoops and Joseph Jiminez, took the trash out for pickup. Smelling a terrible odor from the bag Paltanavage had put out on July 29, they discovered the baby's body and called 911.