Bill Text: NH HB60 | 2021 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Raising the minimum age of marriage.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-09-21 - Committee Report: Inexpedient to Legislate (Vote 8-7; Regular Calendar) [HB60 Detail]

Download: New_Hampshire-2021-HB60-Introduced.html

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HB 60  - AS INTRODUCED

 

 

2021 SESSION

21-0003

05/04

 

HOUSE BILL 60

 

AN ACT raising the minimum age of marriage.

 

SPONSORS: Rep. Levesque, Straf. 4; Rep. Grassie, Straf. 11; Rep. Walz, Merr. 23; Rep. Altschiller, Rock. 19; Rep. Rung, Hills. 21; Rep. Petrigno, Hills. 23; Rep. Ruprecht, Graf. 3; Rep. Wazir, Merr. 17; Rep. Frost, Straf. 16; Rep. T. Smith, Hills. 17

 

COMMITTEE: Children and Family Law

 

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ANALYSIS

 

This bill raises the minimum age of marriage from 16 to 18 years of age.

 

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

21-0003

05/04

 

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

 

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty One

 

AN ACT raising the minimum age of marriage.

 

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

 

1  Marriage; Age.  Amend RSA 457:4 to read as follows:

457:4  Marriageable.  [No person below the age of 16 years shall be capable of contracting a valid marriage, and all marriages contracted by such persons shall be null and void.] No individual under the age of 18 shall be granted a marriage license.

2  Prohibitions.  Amend RSA 457:8 to read as follows:

457:8  Prohibitions.  No town clerk shall issue any certificate for the marriage of any person below the age of [consent] 18, and no magistrate or minister of religion shall solemnize the marriage of any such person, if such clerk, magistrate or minister knows or has reasonable cause to believe that such person is below such age[, unless permission for such marriage has been given under this subdivision].  No magistrate or minister of religion shall solemnize any marriage by proxy.  

3  Repeal.  The following are repealed:

I.  RSA 457:6, relative to a marriage petition by a party under age.

II.  RSA 457:7, relative to grounds for granting a marriage petition by a party under age.

III.  RSA 5-C:45, relative to the marriage license of a party under age.

4  Effective Date.  This act shall take effect January 1, 2022.