We intended to provide IEA Hotline readers with a wrap-up edition of the 2015 session, but it appears there is still work to be done. We urge you to read the following message and reach out to the Governor and your House of Representatives members and urge them pass the Child Support Enforcement Program legislation.
If you’ve read a local newspaper, checked out an Idaho online news feed, or watched a local news program in the past few weeks, chances are you have heard about the decision members of the House Judiciary, Rules, and Administration Committee made in the waning hours of the 2015 legislative session.
By a vote of 9-8, committee members tabled SB 1067, putting hundreds of thousands of Idaho children and their families at risk.
What is SB 1067? It is an amendment to a current Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA) law, which governs how Idaho works with other states and foreign countries to collect and distribute child support. The legislation streamlines effective processes in Idaho and across national and international boundaries.
Without this important collection tool, Idaho’s most vulnerable citizens—our children—find themselves in an untenable situation. Lawmakers must approve this law to ensure that the families and children who depend upon this program do not lose large chunks of the income they need to survive.
This is not a Democrat or a Republican issue. This is about supporting families by preserving the program that helps parents take financial responsibility for their children. Unless lawmakers pass SB 1067 by early June, more than $200 million is at risk for the more than 400,000 Idaho children and parents who receive regular child support payments through this critical program.
You can learn more about the issue at dhwblog.com.
Please contact Governor Otter and urge him to immediately call lawmakers back to Boise to rectify this situation. Ask him to call a Special Session for the purpose of ensuring Idaho has the tools we need to protect our state’s child support enforcement program.
Then, please contact your Representatives. Urge them to help you ensure your students have the means necessary through Idaho’s child support enforcement program. Call on them to help you to urge Governor Otter to bring lawmakers for a special session and pass SB 1067.
