An obscene phone call to a child would become a felony under a bill introduced last week by freshman state Rep. Kathy Cox, R-Peachtree City.

"Children should not be afraid to answer their own phone," said Cox after introducing her first bill ever. The bill would expand the definition of child molestation to include telephone conversations.

Cox said she hopes the bill can be taken up by the Judiciary Committee this week, but whether it will be reported out in time for action this year is uncertain.

"The Judiciary Committee is really swamped with bills," she said.

Under current law, offenders must be in the presence of a child to be charged with sexual molestation. The Georgia Supreme Court last April ruled that an offender is not considered "in the presence of the child while talking on the phone with him/her."

An obscene phone call or solicitation of a child over the phone would be considered a misdemeanor under the court's ruling.

Cox said she wrote the bill in response to a call from the Fayette County Sheriff's Department, which had compiled evidence against an individual who "had on numerous occasions solicited sexual responses from children over the phone." The department could charge that person only with a misdemeanor, Cox said.