BOISE, Idaho — Governor Brad Little signed House Bill 776, otherwise known as Benji's Law, into state law on Thursday afternoon.
The law, which aims to protect children from parents and guardians with a history of abusive or neglectful behavior, goes into effect immediately.
The bill is named after Benji, a 12-day-old infant from Nampa who died in December 2025.
Benji's parents, Allysen Armenta and Brian Lemke, have been charged with felony counts of injury to a child and failure to report their infant's death. Lemke and Armenta previously had their parental rights to other children terminated after investigators discovered three toddlers living in "dangerous and dirty conditions" in 2019.
As written, the bill requires the Idaho Department of Health & Welfare to intervene when "risk factors" are identified in connection with an infant's safety.
Those risk factors include prior convictions for child abuse, termination of parental rights, and identification in the child protection registry.
