By: Whitmire S.B. No. 1317

(In the Senate - Filed March 7, 2013; March 13, 2013, read first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence; April 18, 2013, reported adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0; April 18, 2013, sent to printer.)

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1317 By: Rodriguez

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to persons authorized to perform a marriage ceremony.

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

SECTION 1. Section 2.202, Family Code, is amended by amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsection (b-1) 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, or judge or magistrate of a federal court of this state; and

(5) a retired judge or magistrate of a federal court of this state.

(b) For the purposes of Subsection (a)(4) [this section], a retired judge or justice is a former judge or justice who is vested in the Judicial Retirement System of Texas Plan One or the Judicial Retirement System of Texas Plan Two or who has an aggregate of at least 12 years of service as judge or justice of any type listed in Subsection (a)(4).

(b-1) For the purposes of Subsection (a)(5), a retired judge or magistrate is a former judge or magistrate of a federal court of this state who is fully vested in the Federal Employees Retirement System under 28 U.S.C. Section 371 or 377.

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, 2013.

* * * * *