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Notary law update sails through Idaho Senate panel

Reps. Priscilla Giddings, R-White Bird, challenged a revision to notary rules in Idaho during debate in the Idaho House earlier this month. but a Senate committee didn’t seems concerned about the bill when it considered it Monday, March 13, 2017. (Betsy Z. Russell / SR)
By Betsy Z. Russell betsyr@spokesman.com(208) 336-2854
Reps. Priscilla Giddings, R-White Bird, challenged a revision to notary rules in Idaho during debate in the Idaho House earlier this month. but a Senate committee didn’t seems concerned about the bill when it considered it Monday, March 13, 2017. (Betsy Z. Russell / SR)

BOISE – The Idaho Senate State Affairs Committee made relatively short work Monday of approving an update to the state’s notary public laws.

The bill cleared the committee unanimously after a series of questions from senators to an official from the Idaho Secretary of State’s office focusing on the fees and mechanisms outlined in the measure.

Unlike in the House – where a handful of lawmakers objected to the bill on grounds of international concerns, references to the United Nations, and concerns about uniform laws – the bill quickly cleared the Senate panel Monday morning and headed to the full Senate.

The controversy in the House lead one lawmaker to force a full reading of the bill that lasted more than an hour. But it finally passed House in a 63-7 vote.

It still needs passage there and the governor’s signature to become law.