Rep. Merrill Nelson

In a court filing in Cochise County, Arizona, made public Wednesday, the children of the late Paul Adams asked an Arizona judge for permission to add Republican state Rep. Merrill F. Nelson and law firm Kirton McConkie as defendants in their lawsuit against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints.

An Associated Press review finds that over the past two decades, more than 130 bills have been proposed in state legislatures to create or amend child sex abuse reporting laws. After intense opposition from religious groups, the clergy privilege remained unchanged.

Records from a log of calls fielded by a law firm representing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a church official deposition show that Republican State Rep. Merrill F. Nelson took the initial call from a bishop reporting that church member Paul Adams had sexually abused his daughters.

Two competing proposals dealing with the process of changing a person’s sex on legal documents were abandoned by Utah lawmakers on Thursday.The first, a…