Text of IL HB 5170 (2012)

97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2011 and 2012 HB5170 Introduced , by Rep. Greg Harris SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: See Index Creates the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act. Contains provisions regarding purposes, 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 laws 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 law of this State as if federal law recognized the marriages of same-sex couples in the same manner as the law of this State. Amends the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act by making various changes concerning: parties who may marry; solemnization; prohibited marriages; jurisdiction; and other matters. Amends the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act. Makes various changes and additions regarding recognition of marriages. Authorizes the voluntary conversion of a civil union to a marriage under specified circumstances. Makes other changes. LRB097 17195 AJO 62395 b FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY A BILL FOR HB5170LRB097 17195 AJO 62395 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 the State of Illinois, whether they derive 13from statute, administrative or court rule, policy, common law, 14or any other source of civil or criminal law, applicable to 15marriage shall apply equally to marriages of same-sex and 16different-sex couples 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. HB5170- 2 -LRB097 17195 AJO 62395 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 any of the laws of Illinois adopt, refer 9to, or rely upon provisions of federal law as applicable to 10this State, parties to a marriage of the same sex and their 11children shall be treated under the law of this State as if 12federal law recognized the marriages of same-sex couples in the 13same manner as 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 HB5170- 3 -LRB097 17195 AJO 62395 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 HB5170- 4 -LRB097 17195 AJO 62395 b 1religious denomination, Indian Nation or Tribe or Native Group, 2or any officiant acting as a representative of a religious 3denomination, Indian Nation or Tribe or Native Group, to 4solemnize any marriage. Instead, any religious denomination, 5Indian Nation or Tribe or Native Group is free to choose which 6marriages it will solemnize. 7 (b) The solemnization of the marriage is not invalidated by 8the fact that the person solemnizing the marriage was not 9legally qualified to solemnize it, if either party to the 10marriage believed him or her to be so qualified or by the fact 11that the marriage was inadvertently solemnized in a county in 12Illinois other than the county where the license was issued. 13(Source: P.A. 95-775, eff. 1-1-09.) 14 (750 ILCS 5/212) (from Ch. 40, par. 212) 15 Sec. 212. Prohibited Marriages. 16 (a) The following marriages are prohibited: 17 (1) a marriage entered into prior to the dissolution of 18 an earlier marriage of one of the parties; 19 (2) a marriage between an ancestor and a descendant or 20 between siblings a brother and a sister, whether the 21 relationship is by the half or the whole blood or by 22 adoption; 23 (3) a marriage between an uncle and a niece, between an 24 uncle and a nephew, or between an aunt and a nephew, or 25 between an aunt and a niece, whether the relationship is by HB5170- 5 -LRB097 17195 AJO 62395 b 1 the half or the whole blood; 2 (4) a marriage between cousins of the first degree; 3 however, a marriage between first cousins is not prohibited 4 if: 5 (i) both parties are 50 years of age or older; or 6 (ii) either party, at the time of application for a 7 marriage license, presents for filing with the county 8 clerk of the county in which the marriage is to be 9 solemnized, a certificate signed by a licensed 10 physician stating that the party to the proposed 11 marriage is permanently and irreversibly sterile; 12 (5) (blank). a marriage between 2 individuals of the 13 same sex. 14 (b) Parties to a marriage prohibited under subsection (a) 15of this Section who cohabit after removal of the impediment are 16lawfully married as of the date of the removal of the 17impediment. 18 (c) Children born or adopted of a prohibited or common law 19marriage are the lawful children of the parties. 20(Source: P.A. 94-229, eff. 1-1-06.) 21 (750 ILCS 5/220 new) 22 Sec. 220. Consent to jurisdiction. Members of a same-sex 23couple who enter into a marriage in Illinois consent to the 24jurisdiction of the courts of Illinois for the purpose of any 25action relating to the marriage even if one or both parties HB5170- 6 -LRB097 17195 AJO 62395 b 1cease to reside in this State. A court shall enter a judgment 2of dissolution of marriage if at the time the action is 3commenced it meets the grounds for dissolution of marriage set 4forth in this Act. 5 (750 ILCS 5/213.1 rep.) 6 Section 910. The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of 7Marriage Act is amended by repealing Section 213.1. 8 Section 915. The Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and 9Civil Union Act is amended by changing Section 60 and by adding 10Section 65 as follows: 11 (750 ILCS 75/60) 12 Sec. 60. Respect for marriages and civil unions entered 13into in other jurisdictions Reciprocity. A marriage between 14persons of the same sex, a civil union, or a substantially 15similar legal relationship other than common law marriage, 16legally entered into in another jurisdiction, shall be 17recognized in Illinois as a civil union. A marriage, whether of 18the same sex or different sexes and providing that it is not a 19common law marriage, legally entered into in another 20jurisdiction, shall be recognized in Illinois as a marriage in 21accordance with the provisions of the Illinois Marriage and 22Dissolution of Marriage Act except that Section 216 of the 23Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act shall not HB5170- 7 -LRB097 17195 AJO 62395 b 1apply to marriages of same-sex couples validly entered into in 2another jurisdiction. 3(Source: P.A. 96-1513, eff. 6-1-11.) 4 (750 ILCS 75/65 new) 5 Sec. 65. Voluntary conversion of civil union to marriage. 6 (a) Parties to a civil union may apply for and receive a 7marriage license and have such marriage solemnized and 8registered pursuant to Section 209 of the Illinois Marriage and 9Dissolution of Marriage Act, provided the parties are otherwise 10eligible to marry and the parties to the marriage are the same 11as the parties to the civil union. The fee for application for 12a marriage license shall be waived in such circumstances. 13 (b) For a period of one year following the effective date 14of this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly, parties to 15a civil union may have their civil union legally designated and 16recorded as a marriage, deemed effective on the date of 17solemnization of the civil union, without payment of any fee, 18provided the parties' civil union has not been dissolved and 19there is no pending proceeding to dissolve the civil union. 20Upon application to a county clerk, the parties shall be issued 21a marriage certificate. The parties' signatures on the marriage 22certificate and return of the signed certificate for recording 23shall be sufficient to convert the civil union into a marriage. 24The county clerk shall notify the Department of Public Health 25within 45 days by furnishing a copy of the certificate to the HB5170- 8 -LRB097 17195 AJO 62395 b 1Department of Public Health. 2 (c) When parties to a civil union have married, or when 3their civil union has been converted to a marriage under this 4Section, the parties, as of the date stated in the marriage 5certificate, shall no longer be considered in a civil union and 6shall be in a legal marriage. HB5170- 9 -LRB097 17195 AJO 62395 b 1 INDEX 2 Statutes amended in order of appearance