Text of US SB 23 (2015)

II 114TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 23 To amend title 17, United States Code, with respect to the definition of ‘‘widow’’ and ‘‘widower’’, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 6, 2015 Mr. LEAHY (for himself, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. COONS, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. FRANKEN, and Mrs. BOXER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend title 17, United States Code, with respect to the definition of ‘‘widow’’ and ‘‘widower’’, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Copyright and Mar- 4 riage Equality Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Jan 08, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S23.IS S23 emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS 2 •S 23 IS SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF WIDOW AND WIDOWER IN TITLE 17, 1 UNITED STATES CODE. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 101 of title 17, United 3 States Code, is amended by striking the definition of 4 ‘‘ ‘widow’ or ‘widower’ ’’ and inserting the following: 5 ‘‘An individual is the ‘widow’ or ‘widower’ of an 6 author if the courts of the State in which the indi- 7 vidual and the author were married (or, if the indi- 8 vidual and the author were not married in any State 9 but were validly married in another jurisdiction, the 10 courts of any State) would find that the individual 11 and the author were validly married at the time of 12 the author’s death, whether or not the spouse has 13 later remarried.’’. 14 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 15 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to the death of any 16 author that occurs on or after the date of the enactment 17 of this Act. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Jan 08, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S23.IS S23 emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS