Text of IL HB 110 (2014)

98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2013 and 2014 HB0110 Introduced , by Rep. Greg Harris SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: See Index Creates the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act. Contains provisions regarding legislative purpose, rules of construction, and severability. Provides that: all laws of this State applicable to marriage apply equally to marriages of same-sex and different-sex couples and their children; parties to a marriage and their children, regardless of whether the marriage is of a same-sex or different-sex couple, have the same benefits, protections, and responsibilities under law; parties to a marriage are included in any definition or use of terms such as "spouse", "family", "immediate family", "dependent", "next of kin", "wife", "husband", "bride", "groom", "wedlock", and other terms that refer to or denote the spousal relationship, as those terms are used throughout the law, regardless of whether the parties to a marriage are of the same sex or different sexes; and, to the extent that laws of this State adopt, refer to, or rely upon provisions of federal law as applicable to this State, parties to a marriage of the same sex and their children shall be treated under the laws of this State as if federal law recognized the marriages of same-sex couples in the same manner as the laws of this State. Amends the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act. Makes changes concerning: parties who may marry; solemnization; use of a parish hall or other religious facility for solemnization or celebration of a marriage; prohibited marriages; and jurisdiction. Amends the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act to make changes and additions regarding recognition of marriages and to authorize the voluntary conversion of a civil union to a marriage under specified circumstances. Contains severability provisions. Effective 30 days after becoming law. LRB098 04195 HEP 34219 b FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY A BILL FOR HB0110LRB098 04195 HEP 34219 b 1 AN ACT concerning civil law. 2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 3represented in the General Assembly: 4 Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the 5Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act. 6 Section 5. Purposes; rules of construction. This Act shall 7be liberally construed and applied to promote its underlying 8purpose, which is to provide same-sex and different-sex couples 9and their children equal access to the status, benefits, 10protections, rights, and responsibilities of civil marriage. 11 Section 10. Equal access to marriage. 12 (a) All laws of this State applicable to marriage, whether 13they derive from statute, administrative or court rule, policy, 14common law, or any other source of civil or criminal law, shall 15apply equally to marriages of same-sex and different-sex 16couples and their children. 17 (b) Parties to a marriage and their children, regardless 18of whether the marriage consists of a same-sex or different-sex 19couple, shall have all the same benefits, protections, and 20responsibilities under law, whether they derive from statute, 21administrative or court rule, policy, common law, or any other 22source of civil or criminal law. HB0110- 2 -LRB098 04195 HEP 34219 b 1 (c) Parties to a marriage shall be included in any 2definition or use of terms such as "spouse", "family", 3"immediate family", "dependent", "next of kin", "wife", 4"husband", "bride", "groom", "wedlock", and other terms that 5refer to or denote the spousal relationship, as those terms are 6used throughout the law, regardless of whether the parties to a 7marriage are of the same sex or different sexes. 8 (d) To the extent the law of this State adopts, refers to, 9or relies upon provisions of federal law as applicable to this 10State, parties to a marriage of the same sex and their children 11shall be treated under the law of this State as if federal law 12recognizes the marriages of same-sex couples in the same manner 13as the law of this State. 14 Section 15. Severability. If any part of this Act or its 15application to any person or circumstance is adjudged invalid, 16such adjudication or application shall not affect the validity 17of this Act as a whole or of any other part. 18 Section 905. The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of 19Marriage Act is amended by changing Sections 201, 209, and 212 20and by adding Section 220 as follows: 21 (750 ILCS 5/201) (from Ch. 40, par. 201) 22 Sec. 201. Formalities.) A marriage between 2 persons a man 23and a woman licensed, solemnized and registered as provided in HB0110- 3 -LRB098 04195 HEP 34219 b 1this Act is valid in this State. 2(Source: P.A. 80-923.) 3 (750 ILCS 5/209) (from Ch. 40, par. 209) 4 Sec. 209. Solemnization and Registration.) 5 (a) A marriage may be solemnized by a judge of a court of 6record, by a retired judge of a court of record, unless the 7retired judge was removed from office by the Judicial Inquiry 8Board, except that a retired judge shall not receive any 9compensation from the State, a county or any unit of local 10government in return for the solemnization of a marriage and 11there shall be no effect upon any pension benefits conferred by 12the Judges Retirement System of Illinois, by a judge of the 13Court of Claims, by a county clerk in counties having 2,000,000 14or more inhabitants, by a public official whose powers include 15solemnization of marriages, or in accordance with the 16prescriptions of any religious denomination, Indian Nation or 17Tribe or Native Group, provided that when such prescriptions 18require an officiant, the officiant be in good standing with 19his or her religious denomination, Indian Nation or Tribe or 20Native Group. Either the person solemnizing the marriage, or, 21if no individual acting alone solemnized the marriage, both 22parties to the marriage, shall complete the marriage 23certificate form and forward it to the county clerk within 10 24days after such marriage is solemnized. 25 (a-5) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require any HB0110- 4 -LRB098 04195 HEP 34219 b 1religious denomination or Indian Nation or Tribe or Native 2Group, or any minister, clergy, or officiant acting as a 3representative of a religious denomination or Indian Nation or 4Tribe or Native Group, to solemnize any marriage. Instead, any 5religious denomination or Indian Nation or Tribe or Native 6Group, or any minister, clergy, or officiant acting as a 7representative of a religious denomination or Indian Nation or 8Tribe or Native Group is free to choose which marriages it will 9solemnize. No refusal by a religious denomination or Indian 10Nation or Tribe or Native Group, or any minister, clergy, or 11officiant acting as a representative of a religious 12denomination or Indian Nation or Tribe or Native Group to 13solemnize any marriage under this Act shall create or be the 14basis for any civil, administrative, or criminal penalty, 15claim, or cause of action. 16 (a-10)(1) For purposes of this subsection (a-10), 17"religious organization" is limited to churches, mosques, 18synagogues, temples, nondenominational ministries, 19interdenominational and ecumenical organizations, mission 20organizations, and other faith-based associations and 21societies whose principal purpose is the study, practice, or 22advancement of religion. 23 (2) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require a 24religious organization as defined in paragraph (1) of this 25subsection (a-10) to make available a parish hall or other 26religious facility on the premises of a church, mosque, HB0110- 5 -LRB098 04195 HEP 34219 b 1synagogue, temple, or other house of worship for solemnization 2or celebration of a marriage that is in violation of the 3religious organization's religious beliefs, provided that: 4 (A) the religious facility is primarily used by members 5 of the parish or congregation for worship and other 6 religious purposes; 7 (B) for solemnization and celebration of marriages, 8 the religious organization generally restricts use of the 9 religious facility to its members and opens the facility 10 only occasionally to non-members on an unpaid basis; and 11 (C) the religious organization does not make the 12 religious facility available to the general public for 13 rental or use for which a rental fee or other compensation 14 is required or for which public funding or other public 15 benefit is received. 16 (3) Nothing in this Section shall be interpreted to exempt 17the owner or operator of any religious facility from the 18requirements of the Illinois Human Rights Act if the religious 19facility is a place of public accommodation as defined in 20Section 5-101 of the Illinois Human Rights Act. 21 (4) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent a 22religious organization as defined in paragraph (1) of this 23subsection (a-10) from limiting employment to individuals of 24the same religious faith or from making internal personnel 25decisions concerning the terms and conditions of employment for 26positions (A) that require a significant degree of religious HB0110- 6 -LRB098 04195 HEP 34219 b 1training and (B) whose primary duties are ministerial in 2nature, such as conducting worship services or providing 3religious instruction. 4 (b) The solemnization of the marriage is not invalidated by 5the fact that the person solemnizing the marriage was not 6legally qualified to solemnize it, if either party to the 7marriage believed him or her to be so qualified or by the fact 8that the marriage was inadvertently solemnized in a county in 9Illinois other than the county where the license was issued. 10(Source: P.A. 95-775, eff. 1-1-09.) 11 (750 ILCS 5/212) (from Ch. 40, par. 212) 12 Sec. 212. Prohibited Marriages. 13 (a) The following marriages are prohibited: 14 (1) a marriage entered into prior to the dissolution of 15 an earlier marriage of one of the parties; 16 (2) a marriage between an ancestor and a descendant or 17 between siblings a brother and a sister, whether the 18 relationship is by the half or the whole blood or by 19 adoption; 20 (3) a marriage between an uncle and a niece, between an 21 uncle and a nephew, or between an aunt and a nephew, or 22 between an aunt and a niece, whether the relationship is by 23 the half or the whole blood; 24 (4) a marriage between cousins of the first degree; 25 however, a marriage between first cousins is not prohibited HB0110- 7 -LRB098 04195 HEP 34219 b 1 if: 2 (i) both parties are 50 years of age or older; or 3 (ii) either party, at the time of application for a 4 marriage license, presents for filing with the county 5 clerk of the county in which the marriage is to be 6 solemnized, a certificate signed by a licensed 7 physician stating that the party to the proposed 8 marriage is permanently and irreversibly sterile; 9 (5) (blank). a marriage between 2 individuals of the 10 same sex. 11 (b) Parties to a marriage prohibited under subsection (a) 12of this Section who cohabit after removal of the impediment are 13lawfully married as of the date of the removal of the 14impediment. 15 (c) Children born or adopted of a prohibited or common law 16marriage are the lawful children of the parties. 17(Source: P.A. 94-229, eff. 1-1-06.) 18 (750 ILCS 5/220 new) 19 Sec. 220. Consent to jurisdiction. Members of a same-sex 20couple who enter into a marriage in this State consent to the 21jurisdiction of the courts of this State for the purpose of any 22action relating to the marriage, even if one or both parties 23cease to reside in this State. A court shall enter a judgment 24of dissolution of marriage if at the time the action is 25commenced, it meets the grounds for dissolution of marriage set HB0110- 8 -LRB098 04195 HEP 34219 b 1forth in this Act. 2 (750 ILCS 5/213.1 rep.) 3 Section 910. The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of 4Marriage Act is amended by repealing Section 213.1. 5 Section 915. The Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and 6Civil Union Act is amended by changing Section 60 and by adding 7Section 65 as follows: 8 (750 ILCS 75/60) 9 Sec. 60. Respect for marriages and civil unions entered 10into in other jurisdictions Reciprocity. A marriage between 11persons of the same sex, a civil union, or a substantially 12similar legal relationship other than common law marriage, 13legally entered into in another jurisdiction, shall be 14recognized in Illinois as a civil union. A marriage, whether of 15the same sex or different sexes and providing that it is not a 16common law marriage, legally entered into in another 17jurisdiction, shall be recognized in this State as a marriage 18in accordance with the provisions of the Illinois Marriage and 19Dissolution of Marriage Act, except that Section 216 of the 20Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act shall not 21apply to marriages of same-sex couples validly entered into in 22another jurisdiction. 23(Source: P.A. 96-1513, eff. 6-1-11.) HB0110- 9 -LRB098 04195 HEP 34219 b 1 (750 ILCS 75/65 new) 2 Sec. 65. Voluntary conversion of civil union to marriage. 3 (a) Parties to a civil union may apply for and receive a 4marriage license and have the marriage solemnized and 5registered under Section 209 of the Illinois Marriage and 6Dissolution of Marriage Act, provided the parties are otherwise 7eligible to marry and the parties to the marriage are the same 8as the parties to the civil union. The fee for application for 9a marriage license shall be waived in such circumstances. 10 (b) For a period of one year following the effective date 11of this amendatory Act of the 98th General Assembly, parties to 12a civil union may have their civil union legally designated and 13recorded as a marriage, deemed effective on the date of 14solemnization of the civil union, without payment of any fee, 15provided the parties' civil union has not been dissolved and 16there is no pending proceeding to dissolve the civil union. 17Upon application to a county clerk, the parties shall be issued 18a marriage certificate. The parties' signatures on the marriage 19certificate and return of the signed certificate for recording 20shall be sufficient to convert the civil union into a marriage. 21The county clerk shall notify the Department of Public Health 22within 45 days by furnishing a copy of the certificate to the 23Department of Public Health. 24 (c) When parties to a civil union have married, or when 25their civil union has been converted to a marriage under this HB0110- 10 -LRB098 04195 HEP 34219 b 1Section, the parties, as of the date stated on the marriage 2certificate, shall no longer be considered in a civil union, 3but rather shall be in a legal marriage. 4 Section 997. Severability. The provisions of this Act are 5severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes. 6 Section 999. Effective date. This Act takes effect 30 days 7after becoming law. HB0110- 11 -LRB098 04195 HEP 34219 b 1 INDEX 2 Statutes amended in order of appearance