The Idaho Senate voted unanimously to approve a daycare-licensing bill, despite strong objections to several House changes.
The House amended Senate Bill 1112 extensively, including changing the minimum number of children required for licensing from four to seven and shifting some of the financial burden for obtaining a license from the provider to the state.
Sen. Tim Corder, R-Mountain Home, urged his fellow senators to support the legislation because it was better than what the state had now, but he expressed serious regrets about the legislation as amended.
“(The amendments) changed the focus from the children to the providers, from making it safe for children to making it easy for providers,” Corder said.
After listing his objections and declaring that the Legislature would have to take up the bill again because of contradictions in statutes that it creates, Corder said passing the legislation was still the correct thing to do.