HELENA -- Lawmakers on Tuesday touted the final version of Montana's "Jessica's Law" as a good starting point for making sex offenders less likely to harm state children but expressed doubts whether it would work.

"I'm not totally comfortable with the bill," said Sen. Jesse Laslovich, D-Anaconda, who voted with four other lawmakers in a joint conference committee to approve the heavily amended measure.

The bill now goes to both chambers for final approval before being sent to the governor's desk.

A number of states have passed similar bills modeled after Florida's "Jessica's Law," which is named for a 9-year-old girl who was kidnapped, raped and murdered in 2005.

Montana's version requires 25-year minimum prison sentences for adults convicted of various sex crimes against children under 13. But it also allows exceptions in certain circumstances.

The exceptions were proposed by Rep. John Parker, D-Great Falls, a county prosecutor who said they were needed to help get plea bargains in crimes with little physical evidence or victims too scared to testify.

Laslovich called the exceptions "loopholes," and said they place a heavy burden on judges to set fair and appropriate penalties for sex offenders less likely to reoffend.

The lone opponent to the bill, Sen. Lynda Moss, D-Billings, said the committee had let "fear and misperception," rather than reason, guide their decisions.

And including incest as a crime subject to the 25-year sentences may even put more children at risk, because families are less likely to report the crime if there are tough penalties for it, she said.

Rep. Penny Morgan, R-Billings, who earlier told the committee that she'd been sexually abused by an uncle, called the tougher penalties more fair to victims.

"I've been living a lifetime sentence," Morgan said. "So is 25 years too long? I don't think so."

Certain incestuous crimes currently qualify for a four-year minimum prison sentence.

Moss said the final version of the bill also lacked input from counselors and health care providers who work with sex offenders.

On Friday, Rep. John Sinrud, R-Bozeman, stormed out of the committee after a treatment advocate was asked to testify. Sinrud eventually returned, but the advocate did not speak at the meeting.

Laslovich and Moss both said they preferred the Senate's original version of the bill, which was crafted by a special subcommittee and approved by the chamber 49-1. It was promoted as a narrowly focused bill that emphasized treatment and only targeted the state's worst sex offenders, but the House changed it to focus more on punishment and less on treatment.

The conference committee restored much of the treatment provisions, but prohibited treatment for those serving life sentences without the possibility of parole. Department of Corrections officials expressed concerns over that provision, but said they did not have major objections to the overall bill.

The bill is Senate Bill 547.