OLYMPIA, Wash. -- It's a great idea but it comes too late, said state lawmakers about the child abuse bill that has been dubbed the "Eryk Woodruff Public Safety Act."

Eryk Woodruff was nearly beaten to death by his babysitter when he was just 15 months old. The beating left him with several broken bones and severe brain damage. The boy's babysitter, family friend Matthew Christiansen, confessed to the crime and was sentenced to ten years.

But the boy's parents, Rachel Pierce and Russell Woodruff, believe Christiansen will be freed in just four years, and want the lawmakers to toughen the state's child abuse laws. The pair also want the state to establish a registry of child abusers, much like the sex offenders' registry.

The two sought help from Rep. Mike Hope, R-Lake Stevens, a Seattle police officer.

"As a police officer, I've been there in the aftermath of things like this. And as a legislator, I'd like to see that I could prevent and stop some of these things from happening by pushing forward legislation like this," he said.

But so far Hope's House bill has had little luck. It has yet to be given a hearing by the House Public Safety Committee Chairman Chris Hurst, D-Enumclaw, a former cop himself.

Hurst said he sympathizes with Eryk and his family.

"I'm certainly concerned about that individual case. I spent 25 years in law enforcement and I care very deeply about families. I care very deeply about victims," he said.

But the bill's timing is off, Hurst said. He said the bill was introduced too late in the session to beat the cutoff, and there isn't much he can do.

"If they give us the ability to hear bills after cutoff, which we don't currently have today, it's a bill I might consider scheduling a hearing (for)," he said.

Hurst also noted increasing prison time for offenders would cost millions of dollars for the state at a time when lawmakers are looking far and wide for ways to cut costs.

The reasons may be valid, but they don't answer all of Pierce and Woodruff's questions.

"What if they were in our shoes or somebody else's shoes, and their child was hurt?" said Russ Woodruff. " Would they want their offender to get out in ten years or less?"

"We will never be able to look at our son and not think about what happened to him. He's going to have the physical scars, the emotional scars forever," Pierce said.