The Kootenai County Republican Central Committee has written to Idaho legislators and Gov. Butch Otter urging them to back the 9-8 vote that killed child support enforcement legislation on the final day of this year’s legislative session – the same vote that’s prompted Otter to call a special session for May 18 to address the issue, after it prompted a crisis in Idaho’s child support enforcement system. Without the bill, Idaho will lose $16 million in federal child support enforcement funds on June 12, plus access to all the federal tools it now uses to enforce $205 million a year in child support payments to Idaho kids. Otter and legislative leaders have been negotiating amendments with the bill’s opponents in advance of the special session.

Jon Hanian, spokesman for Otter, said the governor hasn’t yet seen the letter, but Hanian repeated the statement Otter made earlier about the child support issue and the May 18 special session: “Inaction is not an option.”

The resolution calls the bill, SB 1067, “attempted federal extortion” and says, “The federal government is threatening to punish Idaho children and ex-spouses for Idaho not signing onto a restrictive and problematic set of international standards.”

The resolution cites opposition to the measure from Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll, R-Cottonwood, who initially voted for the bill when it passed the Senate unanimously, but raised concerns about allegedly subjecting Idaho to Sharia, or Islamic religious law, at a House committee hearing; and Washington Rep. Matt Shea.

In their letter to Otter, the GOP panel wrote, “We, the members of the KCRCC, call upon you and our legislators to stand with and support the Judiciary, Rules and Administration committee’s decision to table S1067.” You can read the letter here, and the resolution here.