BATON ROUGE - Starting August 1, child grooming will be a felony in Louisiana. This comes after Senate Bill 58 passed unanimously in the Louisiana House and Senate, before being signed by the Governor in June.

The bill was authored by State Senator Patrick Connick (R-Marrero), who said he created the bill at the suggestion of his daughter, whose husband was the victim of sexual abuse by a catholic priest in New Orleans.

"He was nine years old. He was given baseball cards by a priest, and he was getting preyed on basically, and he held that within him for a long, long time, and we didn't know. He'd have certain mood swings and stuff, but once it came out, it all made sense. That's the kind of harm these crimes cause," Connick said.

The new bill will introduce several changes. One of them is that grooming will be added to the sex offender registry. That means convictions will now count toward offender registration.

"If someone is trying to groom a child and there's some evidence to that effect, then we have to go after them and stop it before the actual crime is committed, and this law finally enables that to happen," Connick said.

According to the bill, grooming means pursuing an intimate relationship with a child under 17 through manipulation, threats, coercion, or enticement, with the specific intent to commit a sex offense against the minor.

The bill also states that grooming a child under 17 years old, where the offender is at least four years older than the child, will no longer require abuse, whether attempted or performed, to charge someone with grooming. Additionally, not knowing the child's age will no longer be a defense.

If the child is under 13, the penalty will be even harsher.

"I think that the penalty is 15 years in prison, which I wanted more, but the D.A. said that's what we need to do, so I listened to them," Connick said.

As a long-time attorney, Connick says he's seen many abuse cases over the years. He spoke with district attorneys from across the state, making sure to incorporate what they said would work into the bill.

One of the bill's co-sponsors is State Senator Regina Barrow (D-Baton Rouge).

"One thing that it shows and shares with the general public is that our regard for children is extremely high in this state, and ensuring that safety is extremely important to us," Barrow said.

Barrow says any legislation that involves protecting children is extremely important to her.

"It actually starts with people whom the children know. Warning signs, how do you recognize those because sometimes it may be people that you actually know," Barrow said.