The House Judiciary and Rules Committee voted 9-8 Friday afternoon to table a bill that would put Idaho in compliance with federal child support collection. According to Idaho Child Support Program Director Kandace Yearsley said the bill’s failure means an immediate loss of more than $16 million in federal funds to the state of Idaho for its child support collection program. The federal government would also deny Idaho access to its child support enforcement tools that all states use to collect child support from parents who live in other states, and put into limbo another $30 million in funds for the state's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which is tied to the state's child support program. (Read our previous coverage of the bill here.) The bill, which passed the Senate unanimously, would put Idaho in compliance with federal regulations pertaining to the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act, putting into Idaho’s existing law provisions of the 2007 Hague Convention on International Recovery of Child Support and Family Maintenance/Melissa Davlin, Idaho Reports. More here.

Question: This is the most irresponsible vote that I've seen in my 33 years in Idaho. The 9 House legislators who voted for this should be ashamed of what they just did (although I suspect that they consider themselves to be some sort of heroes for standing up to a boogeyman who isn't there). Thoughts.