Senate President Stuart Adams told reporters religious organizations “do a great job” in handling abuse confessions.

In the wake of an Associated Press investigation into a case of child sex abuse by a Latter-day Saint father in Arizona, three Utah lawmakers put forward bills that would, in some capacity, require clergy — or give them permission — to report abuse to law enforcement. Why have none of them been debated by the Legislature?

“I think they have a First Amendment right, I believe there’s protections, and I don’t think I want to put a clergy in a spot where they have to be excommunicated or go to jail,” Senate President Stuart Adams told reporters Monday. “And those are the options and I don’t think that’s right.”

While two bills to address clergy reporting have been put forward by Democrats in the House and remain in its Rules Committee,