Bill Text: TX HB818 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relating to authorizing the county clerk in certain counties to conduct certain marriage ceremonies and collect a related fee; authorizing a fee.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-05-04 - Committee report sent to Calendars [HB818 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-HB818-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Relating to authorizing the county clerk in certain counties to conduct certain marriage ceremonies and collect a related fee; authorizing a fee.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-05-04 - Committee report sent to Calendars [HB818 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-HB818-Introduced.html
By: Cortez | H.B. No. 818 |
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relating to authorizing the county clerk in certain counties to | ||
conduct a marriage ceremony and collect a related fee; authorizing | ||
a fee. | ||
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; | ||
(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, retired judge of a municipal court, associate judge of a | ||
statutory probate court, retired associate judge of a statutory | ||
probate court, associate judge of a county court at law, retired | ||
associate judge of a county court at law, or judge or magistrate of | ||
a federal court of this state; [ |
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(5) a retired judge or magistrate of a federal court of | ||
this state; and | ||
(6) in a county with a population of at least 1.7 | ||
million that contains a municipality in which at least 75 percent of | ||
the county's population resides, the county clerk and any deputy | ||
clerk appointed by the clerk. | ||
SECTION 2. Section 51.402, Government Code, is amended by | ||
adding Subsection (a-1) to read as follows: | ||
(a-1) In a county to which Section 2.202(a)(6), Family Code, | ||
applies, the county clerk and any deputy clerk appointed by the | ||
clerk may conduct a marriage ceremony. | ||
SECTION 3. Subchapter G, Chapter 51, Government Code, is | ||
amended by adding Section 51.6045 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 51.6045. MARRIAGE CEREMONY FEE. A clerk or deputy | ||
clerk who conducts a marriage ceremony under Section 51.402(a-1) | ||
shall collect a $25 fee for conducting the ceremony. The clerk or | ||
deputy clerk shall deposit the fee in the county treasury to be used | ||
by the county only to fund charitable organizations that: | ||
(1) assist or provide care for victims of family | ||
violence or of child abuse or neglect; or | ||
(2) provide family violence prevention services. | ||
SECTION 4. The changes in law made by this Act apply 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 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017. |