Panel OKs marriage amendment

BOISE – The full Senate will vote on a proposed constitutional amendment declaring marriage between a man and a woman the only legal domestic union in Idaho. A Senate committee approved the measure on a 5-4 vote Friday.

A similar amendment last year fell three votes shy of the two-thirds approval in the Senate required to place constitutional amendments on the ballot.

House Majority Leader Lawerence Denney, a Republican from Midvale who’s sponsoring the amendment with other leaders of the House and Senate majority, said there is still time to win votes this year.

Sen. John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, voted against last year’s amendment but said Friday he is undecided about this year’s version.

“I’m still considering,” Goedde said.

In case the Senate rejects the measure again, backers are prepared to bring forward an advisory measure with the same wording. Advisory votes require only majority approval from the House and Senate to go on the ballot, but the results are non-binding.

Republican leaders in the Senate are split on the issue of same-sex marriage. Senate President Pro Tem Bob Geddes, R-Soda Springs, co-sponsored the amendment, and both he and Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis of Idaho Falls voted for it during Friday’s committee meeting.

But, like last year, Senate Assistant Majority Leader Joe Stegner of Lewiston and Senate Majority Caucus Chair Brad Little of Emmett voted against it.

Little said this amendment, HJR2, is an improvement over last year’s, which defined what marriage isn’t rather than what it is. But he said the lack of a clear definition of what a legal domestic union is made him uncomfortable with the amendment; leaving that for judges to decide is exactly what backers of the amendment say they don’t want happening, he said.

Geddes said the amendment will let residents, not judges, set policy.

“I think that the language in this amendment is clear enough that the people will be able to decide if it meets what they would regard as a proper definition for marriage,” Geddes said.

The Senate State Affairs Committee’s 5-4 vote followed more than two and a half hours of testimony from nearly 50 people. Most spoke in favor of the amendment, and many repeated testimony given to the House State Affairs Committee Feb. 3.

The full Senate is expected to vote on the amendment next week.