BOISE — Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, introduced legislation last week that would allow for criminal penalties against those who make false reports or allegations of child abuse to Child Protective Services.

Currently, parents can file civil lawsuits against those who make knowingly false reports to CPS against them.

Under Scott’s proposal, which she presented to the House, Rules & Administration Committee, prosecutors may pursue misdemeanor charges against those who falsely report child abuse or do so “with malice.”

“There’s a ton of incidents that are turned in that are really false claims, right now there’s just not a good punishment for that,” Scott told committee members.

It would be optional to pursue criminal charges and civil action would still be an option under the proposed legislation, Sen. Scott Herndon, R-Sagle, said. Herndon presented the proposal with Scott to the committee.

If someone were convicted under these new penalties, they would be subject to a fine of up to $1,000, confinement in jail for up to three months, or both the fine and jail, the proposal states.

Rep. Chris Mathias, D-Boise, questioned the scope of the issue the legislation addresses.

“We’re talking about adding more crimes to the code, so I just want to make sure I’m clear on the problem we’re trying to solve,” Mathias said.

Herndon said there are just under 24,000 reports to CPS every year in the state and that “the majority of CPS allegations of neglect and abuse are unsubstantiated.”

Last year, the agency had 23,131 referrals, said Idaho Department of Health and Welfare spokesperson Greg Stahl. Around 13,828 of those referrals were “screened out,” which means it was either not under the agency’s jurisdiction, did not meet the agency’s definition of abuse or neglect, or not found to have sufficient information to respond, such as the report didn’t include an address or way to find the child.

He said a referral being deemed unsubstantiated does not mean it was made in “bad faith.”

“In most cases those individuals enacted their role appropriately as a concerned citizen not tasked with investigating the concern themselves,” Stahl said in an email.

The committee voted unanimously to introduce the legislation, although Chairman Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, asked that the fiscal note be amended to reflect that the bill would have a fiscal impact on local governments.