Bill Text: HI HB1742 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating To Marriage.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-24 - Referred to JHA, referral sheet 1 [HB1742 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2024-HB1742-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1742
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

relating to marriage.

 

 

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

 

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that child marriage, or underage marriage, has a negative impact on the physical, mental, social, and economic well-being of persons who marry while underage.  Women and girls who marry before age eighteen are especially at risk.  Child marriage, or underage marriage, has been linked to higher rates of diabetes, cancer, heart attacks, and strokes.  Young women and girls who marry between the ages of sixteen and nineteen are three times more likely than the national average to experience intimate partner violence.  Women and girls who marry while underage are often isolated from their families and support networks, making it difficult for them to escape or gain financial independence from abusive partners.  Many persons who marry while underage develop mood and anxiety disorders, including major depressive disorder.  Child marriage frequently interrupts education, limits employment opportunities, and caps earning potential, making the person more likely to live in future poverty.

     The legislature recognizes that these concerns have led many states to amend their laws on the minimum age for marriage.  Under Hawaii's existing laws, minors as young as sixteen years of age may marry with parental consent, and family courts may approve marriages for minors as young as fifteen years of age.

     Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to help protect the well-being of minors in the State by amending the minimum age for marriage to eighteen years of age, or seventeen years of age with parental or judicial consent.

     SECTION 2.  Section 572-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "§572-1  Requisites of valid marriage contract.  In order to make valid the marriage contract, which shall be permitted between two individuals without regard to gender, it shall be necessary that:

     (1)  The respective parties do not stand in relation to each other of ancestor and descendant of any degree whatsoever, two siblings of the half as well as to the whole blood, uncle and niece, uncle and nephew, aunt and nephew, or aunt and niece, whether the relationship is the result of the issue of parents married or not married to each other or parents who are partners in a civil union or not partners in a civil union;

     (2)  Each of the parties at the time of contracting the marriage is at least [sixteen] eighteen years of age; provided that with the written approval of the family court of the circuit within which the minor resides, it shall be lawful for a person under the age of [sixteen] eighteen years, but in no event under the age of [fifteen] seventeen years, to marry, subject to section 572-2;

     (3)  Neither party has at the time any lawful wife, husband, or civil union partner living, except as provided in section 572-1.7;

     (4)  Consent of neither party to the marriage has been obtained by force, duress, or fraud;

     (5)  Neither of the parties is a person afflicted with any loathsome disease concealed from, and unknown to, the other party;

     (6)  The parties to be married in the State shall have duly obtained a license for that purpose from the agent appointed to grant marriage licenses; and

     (7)  The marriage ceremony be performed in the State by a person or society with a valid license to solemnize marriages and the parties to be married and the person performing the marriage ceremony be all physically present at the same place and time for the marriage ceremony."

     SECTION 3.  Section 572-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "§572-2  Consent of parent or guardian.  Whenever any person who is under the age of eighteen, but in no event under the age of seventeen, is to be married, the written consent of [his or her] the person's parents, or guardian or other person in whose care and custody [he or she] the person to be married may be, shall accompany the application for a license to marry.  No license shall be issued to any minor who is under the jurisdiction of the family court [without] unless the person:

     (1)  Is at least seventeen years of age; and

     (2)  Has the written consent of a judge of [such] the family court."

     SECTION 4.  This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun before its effective date.

     SECTION 5.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 6.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

 

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

 

 

Report Title:

Marriage; Age; Minors

 

Description:

Raises the minimum age for marriage from 16 to 18 years of age.  Allows a person to marry at 17 years of age with the written consent of the person's parent, guardian, or a family court judge.

 

 

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.