Lawmakers in Idaho may cost their state over $46 million in federal child support funding and access to the federal child support system as they confront the non-existent threat of Sharia Law.
The state Senate voted to pass a bill to adopt federal regulations that comply with an international treaty, but the state House Judiciary Committee killed the bill for virtually no reason.
The opponents were concerned that passing the legislation could have forced the state to uphold child support rulings made in other countries under Islamic law — a contention others said was baseless. [...]
None of the nearly 80 countries involved in the treaty — the Hague Convention on International Recovery of Child Support and Family Maintenance, which the U.S. entered in 2007 — is under Sharia law. But [state Senator] Nuxoll and other skeptics said some involved nations informally recognize Sharia courts. They added that Idaho wouldn't have the authority to challenge another nation's judgment.
The state wouldn't be able to challenge judgements rendered under Sharia law? That's terrible.
The state's Attorney General's Office told the committee, however, that the bill allowed judges to reject cases that don't meet the state's standards.
Oh.
None of the cooperating countries are under Sharia Law, but even if they were the state could reject any case that would fall under it.
If you won't listen to your own attorney general, who will you listen to?
Without federal tools, parents who are owed child-support payments will have no means to receive them. Idaho uses federal programs to process child support payments.
About 80 percent of payments are taken from paychecks, but noncompliance would prevent Idaho from making such collections.
At least they won't suffer the consequences of Sharia Law.