Legislature passes child support bill during special session

Both chambers of the Idaho Legislature passed a revised child support bill Monday after Gov. Butch Otter hauled lawmakers back to the Statehouse for a one-day special legislative session to address compliance issues.

The 37-page bill cleared the House 49-21 late Monday afternoon. It cleared the Senate 33-2 just after 7 p.m.

Members of the Senate adjourned the special session moments after their final vote; the House shut it down shortly before 6:30 p.m.

All told, lawmakers devoted 11 straight hours to the special session without breaking for lunch or dinner.

New Plymouth Republican Rep. Ryan Kerby, the superintendent of his local school district, voted to pass the bill Monday after he was one of nine House Republicans who voted to table it April 10 during the final hours of the regular legislative session. Three other GOP House members did the same — Rep. Janet Trujillo, R-Idaho Falls and Reps. Thomas Dayley and Lynn Luker, both R-Boise.

In the Senate, only Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll, R-Cottonwood, changed her vote. She voted for it in March, and then voted against it Monday.

Kerby said he voted to table the bill last month in hopes lawmakers could make changes to it or receive a variance from the federal government.

Kerby said he held concerns about due process rights and data collection that were addressed in changes made to the new bill approved Monday.

Almost immediately after the bill failed April 10, its supporters and Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Director Dick Armstrong warned that killing the bill could jeopardize the state’s ability to collect about $200 million a year in child support payments and approximately $46 million in federal funding.

Kerby took issue with how Health and Welfare and the media handled the issue.

“In no way, shape or form was I ever voting against child support,” Kerby said. “I would never make the poor, defenseless kids lose their money for food and clothing. I’m a superintendent of schools. I’ve been in education 42 years, I’m not going to do that to kids.

“I think I’ve been consistent the whole time,” he continued. “I wanted some amendments to address our issues and I would be happily voting for it. Now, here we are, and we have our amendments and I happily voted for it.”

On March 20, members of the Senate voted 34-0 to pass an earlier version of the child support bill.

A joint House and Senate committee devoted nearly five hours Monday to public testimony and questions from lawmakers, before disbanding and handing the bill over to the House Judiciary and Rules Committee. The bill cleared the committee after several procedural moves seeking to amend the bill failed.

Public testimony was split among the 36 people who testified, with Sen. Patti Anne Lodge, R-Huston, calling speakers forward on an alternating pro, con, pro, con basis.

Otter responded to the first bill’s failure on April 29 by calling a special session of the Legislature (called an extraordinary session in legislative lingo), essentially calling for a do-over on the child support bill. Otter told reporters and lawmakers that the issue needs to be addressed in law, and that a special session where the bill passes is the only way to rectify the issue.

“I wasn’t going to call a special session if we weren’t going to get anything done,” Otter said April 29. “There is no alternative.”

Otter was the only one with the authority to call a special session, and the proclamation he issued in April called for the child support system to be the only item on the agenda.

Otter released a draft of the new version of the bill on May 4.

Key members of Republican leadership issued early statements through Otter’s office signaling they believed they had the necessary votes to pass the child support bill.

“This program affects thousands of children in Idaho who would become helpless victims without this action,” Senate President Pro Tem Brent Hill said. “I express my appreciation to Gov. Otter, Speaker (Scott) Bedke and many others who have worked to resolve this important issue and look forward to a productive special session.”

Bedke also appeared confident.

“The Legislature as a body, and legislators as individuals, want to do right by the people of Idaho, and we will,” Bedke said in a statement released by Otter.

Otter predicted everything will be resolved Monday within “hours, not days.” He had planned to meet with reporters Monday after the special session adjourned, but announced he is now delaying his press conference until 11:30 a.m. Tuesday.