Bills to stiffen child abuse laws have been introduced in both the Minnesota House and Senate.

Rep. Jeanne Poppe, DFL-Austin, introduced the legislation to the House Monday, and Sen. Dan Sparks, DFL-Austin, introduced a matching bill Feb. 8 to change one word in the false imprisonment statute to lower the standard for what’s considered a felony.

Talk of drafting legislation for harsher punishment was spurred by last year’s sentencing of a Dexter couple, Brian and Charity Miller, who chained their now 6-year-old son to his crib from bedtime to morning every night over a six-month period and withheld food and bathroom access from him and his 8-year-old brother.

Poppe said the bill comes in part from a push by Mower County Attorney Kristen Nelsen to toughen the law in response to the Millers case.

The Millers were convicted in July 2011 of gross misdemeanors and served a year in jail. Minnesota statute did not allow a felony charge based on the nature of the Millers’ crimes because “substantial bodily harm” did not occur.

“In the case of the chained children, we would have been able to have charged a felony where we couldn’t have before,” Nelsen previously said.

The bill would change one word: “substantial bodily harm” to “demonstrable bodily harm.”

While the current law gives harsher penalties to criminals who abuse other people’s children, Poppe said it was important to find some “equity” in punishment.

“It is a horrific situation,” Poppe said. “This is trying to set the standard so people understand what the threshold is. It’s not to be tolerated and it’s hard to defend.”

A felony would be the charge in similar cases if the new legislation passed.

Both bills were introduced and are being discussed in committees.

—Amanda Lillie contributed to this report.