It’s no secret that Idaho legislators don’t like regulations, so it’s not surprising that bills calling for more government controls often die. But given the repeated headlines about children as victims of abuse, you’d think they would give more thought to legislation that would apply minimum licensing to all day-care providers.

It will probably take another tragedy before lawmakers wake up, because they aren’t listening to the people they serve.

For the second straight year, a day-care licensing bill introduced by Rep. George Sayler, D-Coeur d’Alene, has stalled.

The latest effort comes on the heels of extensive public input, thanks to the efforts of the Child Care Summit, a group of day-care providers and parents from Coeur d’Alene, and the Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children.

The Child Care Summit convened meetings to draw up sensible statewide guidelines, and the IAEYC conducted a survey of Idaho parents on Idaho’s child-care standards. More than half of the 1,300 people who responded to the survey rated the state’s standards as inadequate to terrible. They were nearly unanimous in calling for criminal background checks on day-care workers and for CPR and first-aid training.

So while lawmakers show a reflexive disdain for regulations, the people who vote for them want licensing standards for day-care centers with 13 or fewer children. Larger facilities must be licensed.

Child Care Summit member Cathy Kowalski, who used to own a day care, makes a good point when she says the state doesn’t have a problem with requiring licenses for dog groomers and hair stylists, so why not for small day-care facilities?

Some rural lawmakers raised the concern that the bill was an urban solution that didn’t fit with rural lifestyles. They feared parents wouldn’t be able to drop off kids at a neighbor’s house, but the bill allows for those occasions. Besides, people in cities that have adopted licensing for small day cares also drop off kids with friends, and it hasn’t been a problem.

Coeur d’Alene adopted its own standards in January, and they’ve been embraced by day-care providers. Parents appreciate knowing that workers watching their kids have been checked out.

Families in other communities will have to wait at least another year for that peace of mind. As it stands now, those entrusted with their children are not required to undergo criminal background checks or have basic first-aid certification. The facilities themselves are not subject to minimum health and safety standards, and they are not required to report the presence of sex offenders. There are no regulations on smoking, alcohol use or firearms storage.

Sadly, Idaho’s hands-off approach may lead to hands-on crimes.