Report Title:

Marriage License Fees

 

Description:

Increases marriage license fees from $50 to $65, of which $10 is to be allocated to the Hawaii Birth Defects Special Fund and $5 to the Vital Statistics Improvement Special Fund. Provides that all licenses to solemnize marriages automatically expire two years from the date of issuance. Requires DOH to make available a listing of licensees to solemnize marriages. (SB2760 HD1)

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

2760

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002

S.D. 2

STATE OF HAWAII

H.D. 1


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO MARRIAGE.

 

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

SECTION 1. Section 572-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsections (a) and (b) to read as follows:

"(a) The department of health shall appoint, and at its pleasure remove, one or more suitable persons, as agents authorized to grant marriage licenses under this chapter in each judicial circuit. The agents may issue licenses from any state facility when deemed necessary by the director. Any agent appointed under this subsection and receiving an application for a marriage license shall collect from the applicant for the license [$50,] $65, of which the agent, except those provided for in subsection (b), shall retain $9 for the agent's benefit and compensation and shall remit [$41] $51 to the director of health. Upon the receipt of remittances under this subsection, the director of health 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; [and]

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

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

(5) $5 for each license issued to the credit of the vital statistics improvement special fund.

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

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

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

(5) $5 for each license issued to the credit of the vital statistics improvement special fund."

SECTION 2. Section 572-6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§572-6 Application; license; limitations. To secure a license to marry, the persons applying for the license shall appear personally before an agent authorized to grant marriage licenses and shall [file with the agent an application in writing. The application shall be accompanied by a statement signed and] state, sworn to by each of the persons, [setting forth:] the person's full name, date of birth, social security number, residence; their relationship, if any; the full names of parents; and that all prior marriages, if any, have been dissolved by death or dissolution. If all prior marriages have been dissolved by death or dissolution, the [statement shall also set forth] parties shall also state the date of death of the last prior spouse or the date and jurisdiction in which the last decree of dissolution was entered. Any other information [consistent with the standard marriage certificate as recommended by the Public Health Service, National Center for Health Statistics, may be] requested for statistical or other purposes, subject to approval of [and modification by] the 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, over the agent's signature, the date of the filing thereof and] shall issue a license, in the form and manner prescribed by the department of health, which shall [bear on its face] state the date of issuance. Every license shall be of full force and effect for thirty days commencing from and including the date of issuance. After the thirty-day period, the license shall become void and no marriage ceremony shall be performed thereon.

It shall be the duty of every [person,] agent, legally authorized to grant licenses to marry, to immediately report the issuance of every marriage 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.] the form and manner prescribed by the department of health."

SECTION 3. Section 572-11, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§572-11 Marriage ceremony; license to solemnize. (a) It shall [not be lawful] be unlawful for any person to perform the marriage ceremony within the State without first obtaining from the department of health a license to solemnize marriages. The department shall require an applicant for a license to provide:

(1) A complete application on a form to be furnished by the department; and

(2) Such documentary requirements as prescribed by the department in accordance with rules adopted pursuant to chapter 91.

(b) All licenses issued pursuant to this section shall automatically expire two years from the date of issuance and every person holding a license under this section shall be responsible for timely renewal of the license and satisfying the renewal requirements as established by the department in accordance with rules adopted pursuant to chapter 91.

(c) Any license to solemnize marriage issued prior to the effective date of this section, as amended, shall become void after December 31, 2002. All licenses issued or renewed in any year after 2002 shall expire at the end of the following calendar year. Applications for renewals of licenses taking effect on January 1, 2003, or on any year thereafter shall be submitted between October 15 and December 15 of the year the license will expire. Any holder of any license that becomes void by operation of this subsection shall be required to apply for a new license pursuant to the requirements of this section."

SECTION 4. Section 572-12, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§572-12 By whom solemnized. A license to solemnize marriages may be issued to, and the marriage 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 marriages 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 or judge or magistrate, active or retired, of a state or federal court in the State, upon presentation to such person or society of a license to marry, as prescribed by this chapter. Such person or society may receive the price stipulated by the parties or the gratification tendered. The department shall make available to the public a listing of those to whom licenses to solemnize marriages have been issued."

SECTION 5. Section 572-13, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

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

SECTION 6. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 7. This Act shall take effect upon its approval; provided that section 1 shall take effect only if a bill establishing a Hawaii birth defects special fund in any form, whether in S.B. No. 2763 or in any other measure establishing such a fund, is passed by the legislature in the regular session of 2002 and becomes an Act.