Pampa House Member Pushes Three Pro-Marriage Bills

Pampa House member pushes three pro-marriage bills

One bill has already lost much of its bite in floor debate

By W. Gardner Selby, The Austin American-Statesman, April 14, 2007

A Panhandle Republican seeking to discourage hasty marriages and quick divorces said he remains hopeful of sending Gov. Rick Perry pro-marriage legislation despite a setback.

"This needs to be a nonpartisan issue," said Rep. Warren Chisum of Pampa, who plans to mark his 50th wedding anniversary in October. "This is about what's good for Texas. Deep down, people don't want to be a part of separating families."

Rep. Warren Chisum hatched ideas after work with Texas Conservative Coalition.
On Thursday, House members heeded Rep. Senfronia Thompson's opposition to Chisum's plan to charge couples that forgo prenuptial counseling an extra $70 for marriage licenses. Members took the financial carrot out of the counseling pitch and restored the license fee to the existing $30.

"We ought to stay out of people's lives," Thompson, D-Houston, said later. "The Republican Party is supposed to be for limited government."

House Bill 2685 still sailed to the Senate with more than 90 votes. Under his counseling proposal, individuals would be encouraged to take a premarital education course lasting at least eight hours, at an estimated cost of $360 a person; low-income participants could seek a state scholarship. Topics would include conflict management, communication skills and the impact of family violence.

On completion, participants would qualify for waivers of the license fee and the state's 72-hour waiting period between issuance of a license and marriage.

House members also advanced Chisum's House Bill 2683, allowing the state to provide federally funded grants of up to $50,000 to programs helping low-income residents toward healthy marriages and families. Neither the text of the measure nor its fiscal note indicate how many of the federal grants would be available.

But a Chisum anti-divorce measure still awaits House action. House Bill 2684, slated for debate Tuesday, would encourage couples considering divorce to attend 10 hours of marriage counseling. Topics would include conflict management and communication and forgiveness skills. Couples confronting family violence would be exempted.

The counseling would cost an estimated $450 per person, with scholarships available to low-income residents. On completion, couples could still divorce within 60 days. Couples that bypass counseling would have to wait two years between filing for a divorce and getting it approved.

Thompson, who is a lawyer, expressed skepticism. "When you've got somebody that doesn't want you, when it's over, it's over," she said. "Why not allow them to go on with their lives? Why are you forcing people to stay together?"

Chisum said he developed his ideas to slow marriages and divorces with the help of the Texas Conservative Coalition's research arm and after sponsoring the proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage as solely between a man and a woman that voters approved in 2005.

In House hearings, conservative groups and ministers testified for the counseling proposals. The National Association of Social Workers opposed them.

Chisum suggested there ought to be laws to diminish the fact that one in two marriages fail.

"If you don't think families are good for Texas, you won't like this," he said. "If you do, you will."

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