Bill Text: NY S01963 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Waives the state fee for marriage licenses when either party making application for such marriage license is a member of the United States armed forces on active duty and authorizes towns and cities to elect to waive their fees for marriage licenses and certificates when either applicant is a member of the United States armed forces on active duty.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-03-15 - REPORTED AND COMMITTED TO FINANCE [S01963 Detail]
Download: New_York-2017-S01963-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1963--A 2017-2018 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 11, 2017 ___________ Introduced by Sen. LATIMER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the domestic relations law, in relation to waiving the fee for marriage licenses for active duty members of the armed forces The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 3 of section 14-a of the domestic relations 2 law, as amended by chapter 297 of the laws of 1963, is amended to read 3 as follows: 4 3. a. No fee shall be charged for any certificate when required by the 5 veterans administration or by the division of veterans' affairs of the 6 state of New York to be used in determining the eligibility of any 7 person to participate in the benefits made available by the veterans 8 administration or by the state of New York. 9 b. A town or city may elect to waive the fee for a certificate when 10 either of the parties making application for such certificate is a 11 member of the armed forces of the United States on active duty. 12 § 2. Subdivision 3 of section 15 of the domestic relations law, as 13 amended by section 5 of part W-2 of chapter 62 of the laws of 2003, is 14 amended to read as follows: 15 3. If it shall appear upon an application for a marriage license that 16 either party is under the age of sixteen years, the town or city clerk 17 shall require, in addition to any consents provided for in this section, 18 the written approval and consent of a justice of the supreme court or of 19 a judge of the family court, having jurisdiction over the town or city 20 in which the application is made, to be attached to or endorsed upon the 21 application, before the license is issued. The application for such 22 approval and consent shall be heard by the judge at chambers. All papers 23 and records pertaining to any such application shall be sealed by him EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD01149-05-7S. 1963--A 2 1 and withheld from inspection, except by order of a court of competent 2 jurisdiction. Before issuing any licenses herein provided for, the town 3 or city clerk shall be entitled to a fee of thirty dollars, which sum 4 shall be paid by the applicants before or at the time the license is 5 issued; provided, however, that when either of the parties applying for 6 such license is a member of the armed forces of the United States on 7 active duty (i) a town or city may not collect that portion of the fee 8 which would otherwise be transmitted to the state commissioner of health 9 pursuant to this subdivision and (ii) such town or city may elect to 10 waive the portion of the fee which the town or city is entitled to. Any 11 town or city clerk who shall issue a license to marry any persons one or 12 both of whom shall not be at the time of the marriage under such license 13 legally competent to marry without first requiring the parties to such 14 marriage to make such affidavits and statements or who shall not require 15 the production of documentary proof of age or the procuring of the 16 approval and consents provided for by this article, which shall show 17 that the parties authorized by said license to be married are legally 18 competent to marry, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction 19 thereof shall be fined in the sum of one hundred dollars for each and 20 every offense. On or before the fifteenth day of each month, each town 21 and city clerk, except in the city of New York, shall transmit to the 22 state commissioner of health twenty-two dollars and fifty cents of the 23 amount received for each fee collected, which shall be paid into the 24 vital records management account as provided by section ninety-seven- 25 cccc of the state finance law; provided, however, that no fee shall be 26 collected on behalf of or paid to the commissioner of health when either 27 of the parties applying for such license is a member of the armed forces 28 of the United States on active duty. In any city the balance of all 29 fees collected for the issuing of a marriage license, or for solemnizing 30 a marriage, so far as collected for services rendered by any officer or 31 employee of such city, shall be paid monthly into the city treasury and 32 may by ordinance be credited to any fund therein designated, and said 33 ordinance, when duly enacted, shall have the force of law in such city. 34 Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article, the clerk of any 35 city with the approval of the governing body of such city is hereby 36 authorized to designate, in writing filed in the city clerk's office, a 37 deputy clerk, if any, and/or other city employees in such office to 38 receive applications for, examine applications, investigate and issue 39 marriage licenses in the absence or inability of the clerk of said city 40 to act, and said deputy and/or employees so designated are hereby vested 41 with all the powers and duties of said city clerk relative thereto. Such 42 deputy and/or employees shall perform said duties without additional 43 compensation. 44 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
