The Senate Judiciary Committee has voted unanimously in favor of HB 1, sending it to the full Senate for a vote. Sen. Maryanne Jordan, D-Boise, made the motion, and Sen. Dan Johnson, R-Lewiston, seconded the motion. Sen. Mary Souza, R-Coeur d’Alene, said, “I have grappled with this bill for several weeks now and have done a great deal of research. I don’t like parts of it at all. I feel that it is an overreach in many ways. But I do think that it has merits in terms of continuing without disruption the system that we have in place for child support right now. I do believe that if this bill did not pass we would make sure that child support would continue uninterrupted, but it would take some organization. I’m willing to support this bill, but I am still uncomfortable with parts of it.”

Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls, complimented and thanked Souza. Sen. Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian, said, “When we have another contentious bill in the future, I would highly recommend that we start much, much earlier in the session.”