Text of US SB 2919 (2014)

II 113TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 2919 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 NOVEMBER 12, 2014 Mr. LEAHY 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 SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF WIDOW AND WIDOWER IN TITLE 17, 6 UNITED STATES CODE. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 101 of title 17, United 8 States Code, is amended by striking the definition of 9 ‘‘ ‘widow’ or ‘widower’ ’’ and inserting the following: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Nov 13, 2014 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2919.IS S2919 SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2919 IS ‘‘An individual is the ‘widow’ or ‘widower’ of an 1 author if the courts of the State in which the indi- 2 vidual and the author were married (or, if the indi- 3 vidual and the author were not married in any State 4 but were validly married in another jurisdiction, the 5 courts of any State) would find that the individual 6 and the author were validly married at the time of 7 the author’s death, whether or not the spouse has 8 later remarried.’’. 9 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 10 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to the death of any 11 author that occurs on or after the date of the enactment 12 of this Act. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Nov 13, 2014 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2919.IS S2919 SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS