HBA-SEB H.B. 2442 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2442 By: Goodman Juvenile Justice and Family Issues 6/2/1999 Enrolled BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE After remaining stable during the 1950s, the divorce rate in the United States increased in the 1960s, doubled between 1966 and 1976, and leveled off at a high rate in the 1980s. In order to combat the high divorce rate, a premarital education course may benefit couples who are uncertain of their choice to get married. Research indicates that 10 to 15 percent of couples taking a premarital education course decide not to marry. C.S.H.B. 2442 encourages applicants for a marriage license to attend a premarital education course of at least four hours in length. This bill lays out the instruction for such a course and requires a county clerk to issue a premarital education handbook to each marriage license applicant. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 2.009(c), Family Code, to conform to Section 1, Chapter 698, Acts of the 75th Legislature, Regular Session, 1997, and to amend it to require a county clerk, on proper execution of an application for a marriage license, to distribute to each applicant a premarital education handbook provided by the attorney general. Makes conforming and nonsubstantive changes. SECTION 2. Amends Subchapter A, Chapter 2, Family Code, by adding Sections 2.013 and 2.014, as follows: Sec. 2.013. PREMARITAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS; WAIVER. (a) Encourages each person applying for a marriage license to attend a premarital education course of at least four hours during the year preceding the date of the application. (b) Authorizes a course to be completed by personal instruction, videotape instruction, instruction through electronic medium, or a combination of these methods. (c) Provides that a premarital education course should include instruction in conflict management, communication skills, children and parenting responsibilities, and financial responsibilities. (d) Establishes that a course should be offered by a mental health professional who holds at least a master's degree with a background in family therapy or a religious practitioner who performs counseling consistent with the laws of this state or another person designated as a program counselor by a church or religious institution. (e) Authorizes each county clerk to maintain a roster of area course providers who meet the requirements of this section, including providers who offer the course on a sliding scale or without charge. Authorizes the clerk to provide a copy of the roster on request to an applicant for a marriage license. (f) Requires an applicant for a marriage license who takes the course to pay the fee charged for the course. (g) Requires a person who seeks to be listed as a course provider to notify the county clerk of the county in which the person intends to offer the course. Provides that the notification must include the applicant's professional license number or evidence of the person's position or affiliation with a church or religious institution, as appropriate, and an address at which the course provider may be contacted. Sec. 2.014. FAMILY TRUST FUND. (a) Creates the family trust fund as a trust fund with the state comptroller. Requires the attorney general to administer the fund for the fund's beneficiaries. (b) Establishes that money in the trust fund is derived from depositing $3 of each marriage license fee as authorized under Section 118.018(c), Local Government Code. Authorizes money in the trust fund to be used only for the development and distribution of a premarital education handbook, grants to institutions of higher education having academic departments that are capable of research on marriage and divorce, support for counties to administer free or low-cost premarital education courses, programs intended to reduce the amount of delinquent child support, and other programs the attorney general determines will assist families in this state. (c) Requires the premarital education handbook to be distributed to each marriage license applicant and to contain information on conflict management, communication skills, children and parenting responsibilities, and financial responsibilities. (d) Requires the attorney general to appoint an advisory committee to assist in the development of the handbook. Sets forth the composition of the advisory committee. Provides that a member of the advisory committee is not entitled to reimbursement of the member's expenses. SECTION 3. Amends Section 118.011(a), Local Government Code, to require a county clerk to collect $30, rather than $25, for a marriage license. SECTION 4. Amends Section 118.018, Local Government Code, by adding Subsection (c), to require a county clerk to remit $3 of a fee from a marriage license applicant to the comptroller for deposit in the family trust fund. SECTION 5. (a) Repealer: Section 1, Chapter 698, Acts of the 75th Legislature, Regular Session, 1997. That section currently requires a clerk of a county to enter on a marriage license, rather than on the reverse side of the license, the names of the licensees, the date of issuance, and the name of the person appointed to act as proxy, if any. (b) Establishes that this Act prevails over another act of the 76th Legislature, Regular Session, 1999, to the extent of any conflict relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted codes. SECTION 6. Effective date: September 1, 1999. Makes application of this Act prospective. SECTION 7. Emergency clause.