A new Idaho bill would create criminal penalties for falsely reporting child abuse.
Idaho law already allows victims of false reports, alleging they abused, abandoned or neglected a child, to collect civil damages. Two North Idaho Republicans on Tuesday introduced a bill that would make such reports a misdemeanor, punishable by a $1,000 fine and three months in jail.
“There’s a ton of incidents that are turned in that are really false claims,” co-sponsor Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, told the House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee. “Right now, there’s just not a good punishment for that.”
Scott, who’s co-sponsoring the bill with Sen. Scott Herndon, R-Sagle, said false claims to child protection authorities often surface during custody battles between parents. Child protection authorities are “weaponized,” Herndon added.
“This is a real problem with a lot of numbers behind it,” Herndon said.
It’s at least the fourth proposal from Scott since 2019 dealing with child protection laws. Other proposals included requiring Idaho Department of Health and Welfare workers to notify parents of their constitutional rights during a child abuse investigation and changing who is required to report child abuse. None of the bills passed.
On his website, Herndon said he worked with Scott on three of the bills, before he was elected to the Idaho Senate.
Herndon wrote that child protective services, a catch-all term describing state and federal agencies responsible for...
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