HB908

SECTION 1. The Hawaii Revised Statutes is amended by adding a new chapter to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"Chapter

CIVIL UNIONS

PART I. REQUISITES, PROCEDURES

§ -1 Requisites of valid civil union contract. In order to make valid the civil union contract, 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, brother and sister of the half as well as to the whole blood, uncle and niece, aunt and nephew;

(2) Each of the parties at the time of contracting the civil union is at least sixteen 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 years, but in no event under the age of fifteen years, to enter into a civil union, subject to section ‑3;

(3) The parties do not at that time have any lawful spouse living; neither party has entered into a civil union that has not been dissolved;

(4) Consent of neither party to the civil union 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 joined in a civil union shall have duly obtained a license for that purpose from the agent appointed to grant civil union licenses; and

(7) The ceremony be performed in the State by a person or society licensed to solemnize marriages or civil unions and the civil union partners and the person performing the ceremony be all physically present at the same place and time for the ceremony.

§ -2 Definition of civil union. Whenever used in the statutes or other laws of Hawaii, "civil union" means the union licensed under section ‑1.

§ -3 Consent of parent or guardian. Whenever any person who is under the age of eighteen enters into a civil union, the written consent of the parents, or guardian, or other person in whose care and custody the minor may be, shall accompany the application for a civil union license. No license shall be issued to any minor who is under the jurisdiction of the family court without the written consent of a judge of the family court.

§ -4 Contracted without the State. A marriage not recognized by section 572-3 as a marriage, a civil union, a domestic partnership, and any substantially similar contractual arrangement that meets the requisites set forth in section ‑1 and legal in the jurisdiction where contracted shall be held legal in the courts of this State and shall be considered a civil union.

§ -5 Right of domicile, sex or legal relationship status. The right of an individual to be or to become a resident domiciled in this State shall not be denied or abridged because of the sex, civil union status, or marital status of the individual. The residence of one spouse or partner does not establish the residence of the other spouse or partner, which shall be determined by the same factors that apply in determining the residence of any other individual capable of having an independent residence.

§ -6 Civil union license; agent to grant; fee. (a) The department of health shall appoint, and at its pleasure remove, one or more suitable persons as agents authorized to grant marriage and civil union licenses under this chapter in each judicial circuit. The agents may issue marriage and civil union licenses from any state facility when deemed necessary by the director. Any agent appointed under this subsection and receiving an application for a marriage or civil union license shall collect from the applicant for the license $60, of which the agent, except those provided for in subsection (b), shall retain $9 for the agent's benefit and compensation and shall remit $51 to the director of health. Upon the receipt of remittances under this subsection, the director shall deposit:

(1) $32 for each license issued to the credit of the general fund of the State;

(2) $4.50 for each license issued to the credit of the spouse and child abuse special account established under section 346-7.5;

(3) $4.50 for each license issued to the credit of the spouse and child abuse special account established under section 601-3.6; and

(4) $10 for each license issued to the credit of the birth defects special fund established under section 321‑426.

(b) The department may appoint, as a regular employee under the civil service and classification laws, the number of suitable persons as agents authorized to grant marriage and civil union licenses for whom provision has been made in the general appropriation act. In the case of these agents, the full amount collected from the applicants shall be remitted to the director of health. Upon receipt of remittances under this subsection, the director of health shall deposit:

(1) $41 for each license issued to the credit of the general fund of the State;

(2) $4.50 for each license issued to the credit of the spouse and child abuse special account established under section 346-7.5;

(3) $4.50 for each license issued to the credit of the spouse and child abuse special account established under section 601-3.6; and

(4) $10 for each license issued to the credit of the birth defects special fund established under section 321-426.

(d) The department of health or its authorized agents shall furnish to each applicant for a civil union license a brochure explaining rubella, the risks of infection with rubella during pregnancy, and how to seek testing and immunization. The department or its authorized agents shall also furnish to each applicant for a civil union license information, to be provided by the department, relating to population stabilization, family planning, birth control, fetal alcohol and drug syndromes, and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), including the availability of anonymous testing for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection at alternate test sites; provided that such information is available.

(e) In addition to the fee prescribed under subsection (a), the agent, except those provided for in subsection (b), shall collect from the applicant for the license a surcharge of $5, of which the agent shall retain the full amount for the agent's additional benefit and compensation.

§ -7 Application; license; limitations. (a) To secure a license to enter into a civil union, the person applying for the license shall appear personally before an agent authorized to grant marriage and civil union licenses and shall file with the agent an application in writing. The application shall be accompanied by a statement signed and sworn to by each of the persons, setting forth: each person's full name, date of birth, social security number; residence; their relationship, if any; the full names of the parents; and that all prior marriages and civil unions, if any, have been dissolved. If all prior marriages and civil unions have been dissolved, the statement shall also set forth the date of death of the last spouse and the date and jurisdiction in which the last decree of dissolution was entered. Any other information consistent with the standard marriage or civil union certificate as recommend by the Public Health Center, National Center for Health Statistics, may be requested for statistical or other purposes, subject to approval of and modification by department of health; provided that the information shall be provided at the option of the applicant and no applicant shall be denied a license for failure to provide the information. The agent shall indorse on the application, above the agent's signature, the date of the filing of the application and shall issue a license that shall bear on its face the date of issuance. Every license shall be effective for thirty days commencing from and including the date of issuance. After the thirty-day period, the license shall become void and no solemnization ceremony shall be performed thereon.

(b) It shall be the duty of every person, legally authorized to grant marriage and civil union licenses, to immediately report the issuance of every civil union license to the agent of the department of health in the district in which the license is issued, setting forth all facts required to be stated in such manner and on such form as the department may prescribe.

§ -8 Persons under age. Whenever any person who is under the age of eighteen, whose parents are dead or who is a ward of a family court, applies for a civil union license, the person shall set forth in the statement accompanying the application, the name of any guardian or of any other person in whose care and custody the person may be.

§ -9 Applicant apparently under age. If an applicant for a civil union license appears to an agent to be under the age of eighteen, before granting a civil union license, the agent shall require the production of a certificate of birth or other satisfactory proof showing the age of the applicant.

§ -10 Private solemnization not unlawful. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to render unlawful, or otherwise affirmatively punishable at law, the solemnization of relationships by religious organizations; provided that nothing in this section shall be construed to confer any of the benefits, burdens, or obligations under the laws of Hawaii through the private solemnization.

§ -11 License to solemnize. It shall not be unlawful for any person to perform a solemnization ceremony within the State without first obtaining from the department of health a license to solemnize civil unions.

§ -12 Requisites for license to perform the solemnization. A license to solemnize marriages and civil unions may be issued to, and the rite may be performed and solemnized by any minister, priest, or officer of any religious denomination or society who has been ordained or is authorized to solemnize civil unions according to the usages of such denomination or society, or any religious society not having clergy but providing solemnization in accordance with the rules and customs of that society, or any justice, judge, or magistrate, active or retired, of a state or federal court in the State, upon presentation to such person or society of a civil union license, as prescribed by this chapter. Such person or society may receive the price stipulated by the parties or the gratification tendered. Nothing in this section shall be construed to require a person licensed to perform marriage and civil union ceremonies to perform a marriage or civil union ceremony.

§ -13 Record of solemnization; reported by whom; certified copies. (a) Recordkeeping. Every person authorized to solemnize a civil union shall make and preserve a record of every civil union by the person solemnized, comprising the names of the parties joined, their place of residence, and the date of their union. Every person who neglects to keep a record of any solemnization shall be fined $50.

(b) Reported by whom. It shall be the duty of every person, legally authorized to perform the solemnization ceremony, to report within three business days every solemnization performed by the person to the agent of the department of health in the district in which the solemnization takes place setting forth all facts required to be stated in a standard certificate of civil union, the form and contents of which shall be prescribed by the department of health.

(c) Certified copies of certificate of civil union. The department of health shall deliver one certified copy of the certificate of solemnization or the contents or any part thereof as provided in section 338-13 to the persons joined. The certificate shall be prima facie evidence of the fact of a civil union in any proceeding in any court. Upon request, the department of health shall furnish to any applicant additional certified copies of the certificate of civil union or any part thereof. Copies of the contents of any certificate on file in the department, certified by the department, shall be considered for all purposes the same as the original. The department may prescribe reasonable fees to be paid for certified copies of certificates.

§ -14 Revocation or suspension of license to solemnize. Any license to solemnize civil unions issued pursuant to section ‑12 may be revoked or suspended by the department of health, if the holder of the license has failed to comply with the applicable provisions of this chapter or of the rules of the department of health.

§ -15 Delivery of records to department of health; penalty. Whenever any agent authorized to grant marriage and civil union licenses ceases to be an agent, or is directed to do so by the department of health, or leaves the State permanently, the agent shall deliver to the department all of the agent's records of civil union licenses. Upon the death of any agent, the records shall be delivered to the department by the agent's representative. Whenever any person holding a license to perform the solemnization ceremony is directed to do so by the department, or whenever the license is canceled or otherwise terminated, or upon the permanent departure of the person from the State, the person shall deliver to the department all the person's records of solemnization, or upon the death of the person all records shall be delivered to the department by the person's representative. Any person violating this section shall be fined up to $500.

§ -16 Rules. The director of health may adopt such rules under chapter 91 as may be necessary or appropriate to carry out this chapter.

PART II. PROPERTY CONTRACTS, DEBTS, AND LIABILITIES

§ -21 Presumption of separate property. There is a rebuttable presumption that all property acquired in the name of either of the civil union partners, without regard to the time of acquisition thereof, is the separate property of the person in whose name the property has been acquired.

§ -22 Contracts. A person may enter into contracts with the civil union partner or any other person in the same manner as if the person was sole. An agreement between civil union partners providing for periodic payments for the support and maintenance of one civil union partner by the other, or for the support, maintenance, and education of children of the parties, when the agreement is made in contemplation of divorce or separation, is valid, provided that the agreement shall be subject to approval by the court in any subsequent proceeding for divorce or judicial separation and that future payments under an approved agreement shall nevertheless be subject to increase, decrease, or termination from time to time upon application and showing of circumstances justifying a modification. All contracts made between civil union partners, whenever made, and if enforceable under the law, shall be valid to order the conveyance.

§ -23 Not liable for partner's debt. A party to a civil union is not liable for the debts of the civil union partner.

§ -24 Liabilities. During their civil union, both partners shall be bound to maintain, provide for, and support each other, and shall be liable for all debts incurred by each other for necessaries for both partners and their families; provided that when a support or maintenance obligation, however designated, is imposed upon a person under chapter 580 or any other law, the amount of the obligation shall be determined by the appropriate court on the basis of factors enumerated in section 580-47(a).

§ -25 Separate property. The property of a civil union partner shall remain that person's separate property, free from the management, control, debts, and obligations of the other civil union partner; and a civil union partner may receive, receipt for, hold, manage, and dispose of property, in the same manner as if that person were sole.

§ -26 May be personal representative, guardian, trustee, or other fiduciary. A civil union partner may be a personal representative, guardian, trustee, custodian, or other fiduciary and may bind the person's self and the person's estate without any act or assent of the person's civil union partner.

§ -27 Persons as sureties. A person, upon attaining majority and having the necessary property qualifications as required by law, may act, serve, and be a surety on all bonds and undertakings required under the laws of the State.

§ -28 Suits by and against. A party to a civil union contract may sue and be sued in the same manner as if the person were sole. This section shall be construed to authorize torts suits between civil union partners.

§ -29 Settlement not invalidated. Nothing contained in this part shall invalidate any civil union settlement or contract.

PART III. MISCELLANEOUS

§ -31 Outside of this chapter, all references to marital status shall apply equally to civil unions. Every reference in the Hawaii Revised Statutes to "marriage" or any aspect thereof, shall apply equally to "civil unions", including: every reference in the Hawaii Revised Statutes to "married" shall apply equally to those who have entered into a civil union; every reference to "husband", "wife", or "spouse" shall apply equally to a partner in a civil union; every other reference to marital status, parties to a marriage, dissolution, et cetera, shall apply equally to civil unions."

SECTION 2. Section 321-426, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§321-426[]] Birth defects special fund. There is established within the state treasury the birth defects special fund to be administered and expended by the department of health, into which shall be deposited fees remitted pursuant to [~~section~~] sections 572-5[.] and ‑6. Moneys in the special fund shall be used for the payment of the operating expenses of the birth defects program."

SECTION 3. Section 346-7.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (c) to read as follows:

"(c) The account shall consist of fees remitted pursuant to sections 338-14.5 [~~and~~], 572-5, and ‑6, income tax remittances allocated under section 235-102.5, interest and investment earnings, grants, donations, and contributions from private or public sources. All realizations of the account shall be subject to the conditions specified in subsection (b)."

SECTION 4. Section 601-3.6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (c) to read as follows:

"(c) The account shall consist of fees remitted pursuant to sections 338-14.5 [~~and~~], 572-5, and ‑6, income tax remittances allocated under section 235-102.5, fines collected pursuant to sections [[]586-4(e)[]], 580-10, and 586-11, interest and investment earnings, grants, donations, and contributions from private or public sources. All realizations of the account shall be subject to the conditions specified in subsection (b)."

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:	_____________________________

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	908
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII