Enrolled Bill Summary

            House Bill 177 enacts provisions to regulate international matchmaking organizations. The bill requires such an organization to provide a foreign recruit for marriage with the criminal and marital histories of its clients and with basic rights information in the recruit's native language and in a highly noticeable manner not later than 30 days after receiving the criminal and marital history information from a client. The bill requires a client to obtain a copy of the client's own criminal history record information and to provide the criminal and marital history information to the international matchmaking organization. The organization must require the client to affirm that the marital history information is complete and accurate and is prohibited from providing any further services to the client until it has obtained the requested criminal and marital history information and provided the information to the recruit. The bill makes an international matchmaking organization that violates the regulations subject to a civil penalty up to $20,000 for each violation and sets out several factors that a court must consider in determining the amount of the civil penalty. The bill authorizes the attorney general or appropriate district or county attorney to bring suit to collect the penalty and requires a penalty collected under this authorization to be deposited in the state treasury to the credit of the compensation to victims of crime fund.