You might remember a few weeks ago, Sherry and I shared our viewpoints on the proposed Texas legislation that would encourage pre-marital counseling, education and more. Well, it looks like despite many objections; the Texas House approved one of the bills today that would require doubling the marriage license fee in Texas from $30 to $60 unless the couple takes a state-sanctioned class that will teach them how to be good spouses.
Good Spouses is Relative
Trust me, I’ll be doing some digging to find one of these state-sanctioned courses so I can give you what the state of Texas deems to be a good spouse. I could wish for better language on that term. Still, the bill, language intact passed the State Senate last week and will now head to the desk of Governor Rick Perry.
There are no clear details on how much the counseling courses will cost, but if couples take the classes, they will be able to obtain their marriage license for free. What’s really odd about all of this, is that earlier in the same session, the House voted to not raise the fee for marriage licenses because the fee hike would constitute a marriage tax.
Not voting in a marriage tax sounds great, right up until you realize that passing this new bill means that the marriage license fee is doubled (a raise in rate that’s higher than the earlier bill) unless you take those classes.
Democratic Representative Pete Gallago did his best to rally other representatives to stand firm against raising the fees on marriage licenses:
The House has already voted on the issue of (not) doubling the cost of a marriage license. Ronald Reagan said the government is not the answer. The government is not the solution. The government is the problem. How have we gone from the government is not the solution to now asking government to get involved in everyday marriage?
Marriage Classes
The bill stipulates that couples can avoid paying the hike in marriage license fees if they take a state-sanctioned class that lasts a minimum of eight hours. The couple has to take the class within a year of applying for their marriage license and couples that have taken the class can also get the 3-day waiting period waived.
According to the requirements, the classes must offer couples:
- Conflict Management
- Communication Skills
- Keys to a Successful Marriage
Beyond that, there’s not much guidance on what details keys to a successful marriage and more. Republican Representative Tommy Merritt suggested that this is just creating a situation ripe for opportunists:
There are individuals that make money off of defensive driving. This is just another way for some opportunists to come here under the perception that this is a good idea. A lot of people will make money off it. It’s terrible.
Now the big question, will the Governor sign this measure into law?
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