CJ C.S.H.B. 891 75(R) BILL ANALYSIS JUVENILE JUSTICE & FAMILY ISSUES C.S.H.B. 891 By: Hartnett 4-24-97 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND In June of 1996, a state district judge in Harris County dismissed statutory rape charges against a 22-year-old-man for impregnating a 13-year-old girl. The judge ruled that the couple were common-law married and that sex between the two was therefore legal. Family Code section 1.52 permits formal marriages by girls between the ages of 14 and 17 only with a parent's written consent to the county clerk. The 1996 court ruling, however, together with other legal precedent, allows a child between the ages of 13 and 17 to enter into a common-law marriage without parental consent. PURPOSE H.B. 891 would prohibit persons under age 18 from entering into a common-law marriage. The purpose is to eliminate common-law marriage as a defense to statutory rape for persons under 18 years of age. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS Section 1. Amends section 2.401, Family Code, by adding subsection (c) which prohibits persons under age 18 from (1) being a party to an informal marriage; or (2) executing a declaration of informal marriage under Section 2.402. Section 2. Amends section 2.404(b) of the family code to prohibit the county clerk from certifying a declaration of informal marriage for persons under 18. Section 3. Amends section 6.101(a) of the family code to add conforming language. Section 4. Repeals section 2.402(c) of the family code to make a conforming change. Section 5. Makes the act effective contingent upon the passage into law of S.B. 334. Section 6. States that the change in law made by this Act, as it relates to a suit brought to prove the existence of an informal marriage, applies only to a suit commenced on or after the effective date of this Act. A suit commenced before that date is governed by the law in effect on the date the suit was filed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. Section 7. Emergency Clause COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE The substitute changes the age for which a person may be a party to an informal marriage or execute a declaration of informal marriage from 17 years of age to 18 years of age and makes conforming changes.