By:  Seidlits                                         H.B. No. 2226
       73R4107 JMM-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the authority of certain courts to waive the
    1-3  restriction that a marriage ceremony not take place during the
    1-4  72-hour period immediately following the issuance of a marriage
    1-5  license.
    1-6        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-7        SECTION 1.  Section 1.82, Family Code, is amended by amending
    1-8  Subsections (c) and (d) and adding Subsections (e) and (f) to read
    1-9  as follows:
   1-10        (c)  The marriage ceremony may not take place during a
   1-11  72-hour period immediately following the issuance of the marriage
   1-12  license unless:
   1-13              (1)  an applicant is a member of the armed forces of
   1-14  the United States and is on active duty; or
   1-15              (2)  an applicant obtains an order of a <district>
   1-16  court as provided by Subsection (d) of this section.
   1-17        (d)  An applicant may request a district court, <or> a
   1-18  statutory county court granted jurisdiction in civil cases or
   1-19  family law cases and proceedings under <by> Chapter 25, Government
   1-20  Code, or a justice court for an order permitting the marriage
   1-21  ceremony to take place during a 72-hour period immediately
   1-22  following the issuance of the marriage license.  The court may
   1-23  grant an early hearing on the request and shall grant the order if
   1-24  the court finds that there is good cause for the marriage to take
    2-1  place during the 72-hour period.
    2-2        (e)  A court shall issue an order under this section under
    2-3  the seal of the court.
    2-4        (f)  A judge or a justice of the peace may not charge an
    2-5  additional fee for the issuance of an order under this section if
    2-6  the clerk of court for that court charged a fee for the issuance of
    2-7  a marriage license for the same marriage.
    2-8        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993, and
    2-9  applies to a marriage license without regard to whether the
   2-10  marriage license was issued before, on, or after that date.
   2-11        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-12  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-13  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-14  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-15  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.