Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter Wednesday called for a special legislative session to reconsider a child support bill killed by a handful of conservative lawmakers.
The nine members of a House committee expressed concerns that a federal treaty on collecting child support across national borders would force Idaho to obey rulings made in countries with Sharia law.
But Otter says after more than two weeks of phone calls and meetings with lawmakers, he’s confident a revised bill can now pass. According to The Spokesman-Review's Eye On Boise blog, House Speaker Scott Bedke sent Otter a letter saying four of the nine lawmakers who scuttled the bill are satisfied with rewrites and are willing to move forward.
But one member of that group, Coeur d’Alene Republican Kathleen Sims, says she hasn’t been shown any changes to the bill she helped defeat.
“If it’s not a different bill, or if there’s not amendments allowed, my vote will be the same,” Sims says.
Sims says she’s concerned that custody and child support cases in countries with fewer rights for women, won’t be fair. She says she won’t be satisfied unless the bill gives Idaho access to details of international cases, so the state can determine if they meet the same due process standards as domestic ones.
Sims thinks in the special session there will be opposition to the bill on the House floor but that it will probably pass.
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