The House State Affairs Committee has voted to send HB 568, Rep. Eric Redman’s anti-Sharia bill, to the House’s amending order, where any member may offer amendments. Rep. Lynn Luker, R-Boise, said the bill needs a series of technical fixes. “I think that people come here to this country to enjoy the laws that we have. They are fleeing tyranny and the confusion that they have in other countries. So to say that we’re going to protect our American laws, I think that actually is a protection to those who come here seeking that protection from tyranny,” Luker said. “But there are some technical issues here that I think were brought up that I have some concern about.”

Reps. Vito Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens, and Kathy Sims, R-Coeur d’Alene, cast the only “no” votes, favoring passing the bill as-is instead. Barbieri said, “I’ve just got to point out that Sharia may be the focus of this bill, but Sharia is not religious law, it is civil law, it is applied whether or not the individual is taking part in the religion, if the religion itself is dominated by government. ... I believe that it’s essential that we get this on the floor and we have a debate with respect to its central thrust, which is that the U.S. courts, Idaho courts specifically, have no room to apply foreign civil law in Idaho courts. And these other fixes, with respect to adoptions etc. can certlainy be addressed next year. But it is most important that this bill be passed.”

The bill may not be going anywhere in the end, as when similar legislation has been proposed on the Senate side, it’s failed to get a hearing in the Senate State Affairs Committee.