80R15770 KSD-D

By: West H.B. No. 319

Substitute the following for H.B. No. 319:

By: Farrar C.S.H.B. No. 319

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to persons who are authorized to conduct a marriage ceremony.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 2.202(a), Family Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a) The following persons are authorized to conduct a marriage ceremony:

(1) a licensed or ordained Christian minister or priest;

(2) a Jewish rabbi;

(3) a person who is an officer of a religious organization and who is authorized by the organization to conduct a marriage ceremony; and

(4) a justice of the supreme court, judge of the court of criminal appeals, justice of the courts of appeals, judge of the district, county, and probate courts, judge of the county courts at law, judge of the courts of domestic relations, judge of the juvenile courts, retired justice or judge of those courts, justice of the peace, retired justice of the peace, judge of a municipal court in a municipality with a population of 15,000 or less, or judge or magistrate of a federal court of this state.

SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only to a marriage ceremony that is conducted on or after the effective date of this Act. A marriage ceremony conducted before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the ceremony was conducted, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2007.