HBA-GUM C.S.S.B. 644 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.S.B. 644 By: Haywood Juvenile Justice & Family Issues 5/20/1999 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, 80 percent of divorces end unilaterally. Unilateral divorces do not ensure that the power of law is on the side of the offended spouse who kept the marriage promises, rather than on the side of the offender. A covenant marriage involves more stringent premarital requirements and marital obligations, encourages the commitment to preserve the marriage union through difficulty, and clearly establishes the exclusive right to initiate divorce to the innocent spouse. C.S.S.B. 644 creates and validates a covenant marriage, and sets forth provisions for dissolution of a covenant marriage. 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 2.002, Family Code, to provide that an applicant for a covenant marriage license must complete an affidavit of intent to contract a covenant marriage described by Section 2.601. Makes a conforming change. SECTION 2. Amends Section 2.004, Family Code, by adding Subsection (c), to set forth the required language of the covenant marriage application form. SECTION 3. Amends Section 2.009, Family Code, by adding Subsection (e), to require the county clerk to indicate whether a marriage license is for a covenant marriage. SECTION 4. Amends Chapter 2, Family Code, by adding Subchapter G, as follows: SUBCHAPTER G. COVENANT MARRIAGE Sec. 2.601. AFFIDAVIT OF INTENT TO CONTRACT COVENANT MARRIAGE. Requires each covenant marriage applicant to submit an official affidavit of intent to enter a covenant marriage. Sets forth the language of the statement which must be included in the affidavit. Sec. 2.602. DESIGNATING EXISTING MARRIAGE TO COVENANT MARRIAGE. Authorizes a married couple to designate their marriage as a covenant marriage by filing an official affidavit of intent. Sets forth the language of a statement the affidavit must contain. Provides that the married couple must file the affidavit with certain specified entities. Provides that when the affidavit is filed with the county clerk, the marriage becomes a covenant marriage. Sec. 2.603. COUNSELING REQUIREMENT. Provides that a couple must receive counseling from a legally authorized marriage counselor prior to entering into a covenant marriage. Sets forth required actions of the counselor, and authorizes the counselor to discuss any other pertinent non-required topic. Provides that this requirement does not apply to the designation of a covenant marriage under Section 2.602. Sec. 2.604. PAMPHLET ON COVENANT MARRIAGE. Requires the attorney general to prepare a pamphlet which describes the terms and conditions of a covenant marriage. Provides that the pamphlet must list grounds for divorce. Requires the attorney general to provide the pamphlet to Texas county clerks, and requires those clerks to provide it to each covenant marriage license applicant. SECTION 5. Amends Subchapter A, Chapter 6, Family Code, by adding Section 6.009, as follows: Sec. 6.009. APPLICATION TO COVENANT MARRIAGE. Provides that this subchapter (Grounds for Divorce and Defenses) does not apply to a covenant marriage. SECTION 6. Amends Chapter 6, Family Code, by adding Subchapter J, as follows: SUBCHAPTER J. DISSOLUTION OF COVENANT MARRIAGE Sec. 6.901. DISSOLUTION. Authorizes a spouse in a covenant marriage to file a suit to dissolve the marriage or begin legal separation if the spouse meets the requirements of this subchapter. Prohibits a court from setting the trial or final hearing in a suit for divorce under this subchapter before the 60th day after the date the suit is filed. Sec. 6.902. GROUNDS FOR DIVORCE OF COVENANT MARRIAGE. Authorizes a court to grant a covenant marriage divorce under certain conditions. Prohibits the grant of a divorce for reasons relating to a felony conviction based solely on the testimony of the other spouse. Authorizes the court to grant a divorce on the grounds of insupportability. Prohibits a court from setting the trial or final hearing in a suit for divorce in a covenant marriage on the grounds of insupportability before the first anniversary of the date the suit is filed unless the spouse who filed the petition has obtained, after a hearing, a protective order against the other spouse under Title 4 (Protection of the Family). Sec. 6.903. COUNSELING REQUIREMENT BEFORE DISSOLUTION. (a) Requires a couple, after a spouse in a covenant marriage files a suit to dissolve a covenant marriage, to participate in counseling with a person legally authorized to engage in marriage counseling in an attempt to reconcile the marriage, except as provided by Subsection (d). (b) Requires the couple to participate in such counseling until the counselor or both spouses determine the marriage to be unsalvageable, or on the completion of the lesser of 20 sessions or 16 hours of marriage counseling. (c) Requires the couple to participate in counseling until the completion of the lesser of 52 sessions or 50 hours of marriage counseling, if the suit to dissolve a covenant marriage is on the grounds of insupportability. (d) Provides that a spouse is not subject to the counseling requirements of Subsection (a) if the spouse has obtained a protective order against the other spouse under Title 4, or files suit to dissolve a covenant marriage under Section 6.902(a)(2), (3), or (4). Sec. 6.904. PROCEDURES IN A SUIT FOR DISSOLUTION. Provides that the procedures in Subchapters D-H (relating to the dissolution of a marriage) apply to a suit for dissolution of a covenant marriage. SECTION 7. Amends Section 118.011(a), Local Government Code, to create a license fee of $12.50 for both a covenant marriage license and an affidavit of intent to designate a marriage as a covenant marriage. Makes conforming changes. SECTION 8. Amends Section 118.018(a), Local Government Code, to make conforming and nonsubstantive changes. SECTION 9. Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 10. Emergency clause. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE The substitute modifies SECTION 4 (proposed Subchapter G (Covenant Marriage), Chapter 2, Family Code) of the original as follows. In proposed Sections 2.601 (Affidavit of Intent to Contract Covenant Marriage) and 2.602 (Designating Existing Marriage to Covenant Marriage) the substitute adds language to specify in the statement which the affidavits must contain that the couple understands that they can get divorced after a specified waiting period only for a reason stated in the pamphlet on covenant marriage and that they must undergo counseling before they can obtain a divorce. The substitute modifies proposed Section 2.603 (Counseling Requirement) to provide that the counseling requirement under that section does not apply to the designation of a covenant marriage under Section 2.602, and makes a conforming change. The substitute modifies SECTION 6 (proposed Subchapter J, Chapter 6, Family Code) to provide that the title of the new subchapter is "Dissolution of Covenant Marriage," rather than "Dissolution of Covenant Marriage and Legal Separation." The substitute adds Section 6.901(b) to prohibit a court from setting the trial or final hearing in a suit for divorce under this subchapter before the 60th day after the date the suit is filed. The substitute redesignates proposed Section 6.902 to 6.903, and 6.903 to 6.902. The substitute adds language to redesignated Section 6.902(c) to prohibit a court from setting the trial or final hearing in a suit for divorce in a covenant marriage on the grounds of insupportability before the first anniversary of the date the suit is filed unless the spouse who filed the petition has obtained, after a hearing, a protective order against the other spouse under Title 4 (Protective Orders). The substitute modifies redesignated Section 6.903 (Counseling Requirement Before Dissolution) to require the parties to the marriage, after a spouse in a covenant marriage files a suit to dissolve a covenant marriage, to participate in counseling with a certain authorized person in an attempt to reconcile the marriage, and to make conforming and nonsubstantive changes. Section 6.903 of the original prohibits a spouse from filing a suit to dissolve such a marriage unless the parties to the marriage receive such counseling. The substitute adds Section 6.903(c) to require the couple to participate in counseling until the completion of the lesser of 52 sessions or 50 hours of marriage counseling if the suit to dissolve a covenant marriage is on the grounds of insupportability, and also adds Section 6.903(d), to provide that a spouse is not subject to the counseling requirement under Section 6.903(a) if the spouse has obtained, after a hearing, a protective order against the other spouse under Title 4, or files suit to dissolve a covenant marriage under certain specified law. The substitute deletes proposed Section 6.905 (Legal Separation), which authorized a spouse in a covenant marriage to file a suit for legal separation under certain conditions; prohibited issuance of an order of legal separation for reasons relating to a felony conviction based solely on the testimony of the convicted person's spouse; and provided that the procedures in Subchapters D-H apply to a suit for legal separation of a covenant marriage. The subsitute conforms SECTIONS 4 (proposed Section 6.604 (Pamphlet on Covenant Marriage), Family Code) and 6 (proposed Section 6.901 (Dissolution) and redesignated Section 6.902, Family Code) of the original to conform to the deletion of Section 6.905. The substitute also deletes SECTION 7 of the original, which amended Section 8.002, Family Code, to authorize a court to order maintenance for a certain spouse for an act of family violence under Title 4, rather than Chapter 71 (Protective Orders), Family Code, and require the court to issue a temporary order for maintenance in favor of a spouse in a covenant marriage filing for legal separation based on abandonment or dissolution of the marriage. The substitute renumbers the subsequent SECTIONS accordingly.