REPORT TITLE:
Marriage

DESCRIPTION:
Reenacts HRS section 572-1.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                            775         
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO MARRIAGE.



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

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature notes that on November 3, 1998,
 
 2 the people of Hawaii ratified the marriage amendment, article I,
 
 3 section 23, of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii, thereby
 
 4 confirming the legislature's power to reserve marriage to
 
 5 opposite-sex couples.  The legislature finds that the
 
 6 supplemental brief dated December 23, 1998, submitted to the
 
 7 supreme court by the attorney general of Hawaii correctly
 
 8 reflects the view of the legislature that section 572-1, Hawaii
 
 9 Revised Statutes, and related statutes continue to be good law
 
10 and to effectively reserve marriage to couples of the opposite
 
11 sex.
 
12      Nonetheless, because a possibility exists, however small,
 
13 that some court might determine, contrary to the intent of the
 
14 legislature when it proposed the marriage amendment, that the
 
15 marriage amendment requires the legislature to take some
 
16 affirmative action subsequent to the ratification of the
 
17 amendment in order to effectively reserve marriage to couples of
 
18 the opposite sex, the legislature finds it prudent to reenact
 

 
Page 2                                         775         
                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 section 572-1 and certain related statutes, thereby addressing
 
 2 such a possible ruling and preventing, with certainty, any period
 
 3 of time when marriage is not reserved to opposite-sex couples.
 
 4      SECTION 2. Section 572-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 5 reenacted.
 
 6      "§572-1 Requisites of valid marriage contract.  In order to
 
 7 make valid the marriage contract, which shall be only between a
 
 8 man and a woman, it shall be necessary that:
 
 9      (1)  The respective parties do not stand in relation to each
 
10           other of ancestor and descendant of any degree
 
11           whatsoever, brother and sister of the half as well as
 
12           to the whole blood, uncle and niece, aunt and nephew,
 
13           whether the relationship is the result of the issue of
 
14           parents married or not married to each other;
 
15      (2)  Each of the parties at the time of contracting the
 
16           marriage is at least sixteen years of age; provided
 
17           that with the written approval of the family court of
 
18           the circuit within which the minor resides, it shall be
 
19           lawful for a person under the age of sixteen years, but
 
20           in no event under the age of fifteen years, to marry,
 
21           subject to section 572-2;
 
22      (3)  The man does not at the time have any lawful wife
 
23           living and that the woman does not at the time have any
 
24           lawful husband living;
 

 
Page 3                                         775         
                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      (4)  Consent of neither party to the marriage has been
 
 2           obtained by force, duress, or fraud;
 
 3      (5)  Neither of the parties is a person afflicted with any
 
 4           loathsome disease concealed from, and unknown to, the
 
 5           other party;
 
 6      (6)  The man and woman to be married in the State shall have
 
 7           duly obtained a license for that purpose from the agent
 
 8           appointed to grant marriage licenses; and
 
 9      (7)  The marriage ceremony be performed in the State by a
 
10           person or society with a valid license to solemnize
 
11           marriages and the man and the woman to be married and
 
12           the person performing the marriage ceremony be all
 
13           physically present at the same place and time for the
 
14           marriage ceremony."
 
15      SECTION 3.  Section 572-1.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
16 reenacted.
 
17      "[[]§572-1.5[]]  Definition of marriage.  Whenever used in
 
18 the statutes or other laws of Hawaii, "marriage" means the union
 
19 licensed under section 572-1."
 
20      SECTION 4.  Section 572-1.6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
21 reenacted.
 
22      "[[]§572-1.6[]]  Private solemnization not unlawful.
 
23 Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to render unlawful, or
 

 
Page 4                                         775         
                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 otherwise affirmatively punishable at law, the solemnization of
 
 2 same-sex relationships by religious organizations; provided that
 
 3 nothing in this section shall be construed to confer any of the
 
 4 benefits, burdens, or obligations of marriage under the laws of
 
 5 Hawaii."
 
 6      SECTION 5.  Section 572-3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 7 reenacted.
 
 8      "§572-3 Contracted without the State.  Marriages between a
 
 9 man and a woman legal in the country where contracted shall be
 
10 held legal in the courts of this State."
 
11      SECTION 6.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
12 
 
13                           INTRODUCED BY:  _______________________