Dark Christianity
dark_christian
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May 2008
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dogemperor [userpic]
And it starts - Texas tries for covenant marriage

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY [info]exotic_princess)

I can't remember if we've tried it before, but here's the latest effort. Why am I not surprised that Chisum is behind it? He's been a busy boy lately.

I know there are plenty of anti-blogagainsttheocracy blogs out there... there's one linked in the opinion page of the Chronicle that I responded to this morning. You locals might want to add in? *shrug*

Article here

Take premarital class or pay double, House proposes
By POLLY ROSS HUGHES
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

AUSTIN — Debate over government's role in matters of love, marriage and divorce begins today when the Texas House considers a bill doubling marriage license fees to $60 unless couples take premarital classes.

Couples agreeing to eight-hour courses in conflict management and communication skills would get their marriage licenses free under the bill sponsored by Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, a leading House conservative.

Chisum's bill, with its carrot-and-stick approach, is part of the Texas Conservative Coalition agenda to ease the demand for poverty programs by reducing divorce rates that can financially hurt the newly single.

The package could create voluntary "covenant" marriage contracts with tougher conditions to discourage divorce and lengthen waiting periods for no-fault divorces unless couples undergo marriage crisis classes.

"It's in the state's interest for marriages to be saved," said John Colyandro, the coalition's executive director. "A lot of single-parent households are in poverty. Once they're in poverty, that makes them eligible for a whole host of programs they might not otherwise be involved with."

Meddling in private lives

But critics say the proposed measures — especially those lengthening waiting periods for divorces — amount to government intrusion into private lives. While Republicans have long decried the "nanny state" of liberal social safety nets, some House Democrats now complain about GOP meddling into highly personal decisions they say are best left to individuals.

Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, said that when he married a woman who is Catholic, he readily agreed to participate in the church's "engaged encounter" class and parenting classes tied to his children's baptisms.

"I just don't think that's something the government ought to coerce," Coleman said. "It's truly getting into someone's marriage bed. It's the state going beyond what I think its role is and intervening or coercing or penalizing someone who's seeking to get married."

Chisum's bills requiring premarital classes and crisis classes for marriages in trouble include a separate funding proposal for low-income Texans.
It would tap into nearly $10 million in a federal welfare block grant to help pay for the classes.

"We're saying families are important to us," Chisum said Tuesday. "If that's the nanny state, then so we are. We're very pro-family."

The marriage preparation bill would allow classes to be taught by marriage educators, clergy, faith-based organizations, licensed mental health professionals or community-based organizations.

Likewise, if marriages turn rocky, the same categories could intervene with 10-hour marriage crisis classes that couples would be required to complete within a 48-hour period, according to a separate Chisum proposal.

Husbands and wives would not only learn about conflict management and communication skills.In this class, they'd also learn "forgiveness skills."

Couples would be required to pay whatever fee is charged, but low-income families could apply for scholarships under the federal welfare grants.

Two-year divorce wait

Those not completing such classes would be required to wait two years to get a divorce. Those showing they completed the class could get a divorce granted within 60 days of filing. Currently in Texas, there is a 60-day waiting period for a divorce to be finalized.

"If the goal of that exemption is to get people to reconsider reconciliation, I'm not sure that's going to happen," said Michael Bishop, president of the Texas Association for Marriage and Family Therapists.

Rep. Will Hartnett, R-Dallas, would eliminate 60-day divorce waiting periods completely for certain victims of family violence, while Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, would increase divorce waiting periods from 60 days to 180. Couples completing crisis counseling could qualify for divorces in 90 days.

Lawmakers might also consider a bill that would allow Texans the option of a "covenant" marriage. Such marriages would require certain conditions, such as infidelity, before a marriage could be dissolved.

Now in favor of concept

The Texas Council on Family Violence, which opposed the concept of a "covenant" marriage in the past, has given its blessing this year because a spouse who is a victim of family violence could get out of the contract.

Once the victim filed a sworn affidavit, the marriage contract could be dissolved the same way as a regular marriage, said Shannon Duffy, a staffer for the bill's author Rep. Bill Zedler, R-Arlington.

Laws requiring longer waiting periods for divorces might raise a host of practical headaches for courts, said Steve Bresnen, lobbyist for the Family Law Foundation, representing 300 legal experts working closely with family law courts. Which spouse would get to live in the house during the up-to-two-year wait? Who would be responsible for the mortgage and how would child support work?

"What we have is the Legislature moving from one particular social ill to another and prescribing by statute what sort of treatment people should have," Bresnen said.

"It's wholly inappropriate," he added. "These people are adults. The fact they want a divorce does not mean they're ill."

Current Mood: grumpy