Lawmakers in the Idaho House have killed legislation allowing FBI background checks on some state employees despite warnings from the bill’s sponsor that doing so will cause the state to lose critical federal funding.
The proposal, which failed on a 27-43 vote Monday, would have permitted the Idaho Department of Labor to conduct FBI fingerprint-based background checks on employees, applicants, contractors, interns, and other.
The federal government requires the checks for any employee who handles confidential taxpayer information.
Conservative lawmakers like Representative Heather Scott, of Blanchard, argued that the bill was “federal bullying” while debating against it.
Failure to comply with the background-check requirement could put the state at risk of losing millions of federal dollars that help administer Idaho’s unemployment benefit program.
Last year, Idaho received $13.8 million.
The Labor Department says it is currently reviewing its options to come up with an alternative. (AP)
