0774S.04C

SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

HOUSE BILL NO. 157

To repeal sections 193.185, 451.022 and 451.080, RSMo 2000, relating to marriage, and to enact in lieu thereof three new sections relating to the same subject.

Section A. Sections 193.185, 451.022 and 451.080, RSMo 2000, are repealed and three new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 193.185 451.022 and 451.080, to read as follows:

193.185. 1. A report of each marriage performed in this state shall be filed with the department and shall be registered if it has been completed and filed in accordance with this section.

2. The official who issues the marriage license shall prepare the report on the form prescribed and furnished by the state registrar upon the basis of information obtained from one of the parties to be married.

3. Each person who performs a marriage shall certify the fact of marriage and return the license to the official who issued the license within [ten] sixty days after the ceremony. This license shall be signed by the witnesses to the ceremony. A marriage certificate shall be given to the parties.

4. Every official issuing marriage licenses shall complete and forward to the department on or before the fifteenth day of each calendar month the reports of marriages returned to such official during the preceding calendar month.

[451.022. 1. It is the public policy of this state to recognize marriage only between a man and a woman.

2. Any purported marriage not between a man and a woman is invalid.

3. No recorder shall issue a marriage license, except to a man and a woman.]

451.022. 1. It is the public policy of this state to recognize marriage only between a man and a woman.

2. Any purported marriage not between a man and a woman is invalid.

3. No recorder shall issue a marriage license, except to a man and a woman.

4. A marriage between persons of the same sex will not be recognized for any purpose in this state even when valid where contracted.

451.080. 1. The recorders of the several counties of this state, and the recorder of the city of St. Louis, shall, when applied to by any person legally entitled to a marriage license, issue the same which may be in the following form:

State of Missouri )

) ss.

County of ........ )

This license authorizes any judge, associate circuit judge, licensed or ordained preacher of the gospel, or other person authorized under the laws of this state, to solemnize marriage between A B of ....., county of ...... and state of ......, who is ...... the age of eighteen years, and C D of ......, in the county of ....., state of ......, who is ...... the age of eighteen years.

2. If the man is under eighteen or the woman under eighteen, add the following:

The custodial parent or guardian, as the case may be, of the said A B or C D (A B or C D, as the case may require), has given his or her assent to the said marriage.

Witness my hand as recorder, with the seal of office hereto affixed, at my office, in ......, the ...... day of ......, [19]20.., recorder.

3. On which such license the person solemnizing the marriage shall, within [ninety] sixty days after the issuing thereof, make as near as may be the following return, and return such license to the officer issuing the same:

State of Missouri )

) ss.

County of ........ )

This is to certify that the undersigned ...... did at ......, in said county, on the ...... day of ...... A. D. [19] 20.., unite in marriage the above-named persons.