BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1102|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1102
Author: Hancock (D)
Amended: 8/22/06 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 3-2, 6/20/06
AYES: Dunn, Escutia, Kuehl
NOES: Morrow, Harman
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 42-32, 5/9/05 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Marriage licenses
SOURCE : California Association of Clerks and Election
Officials
DIGEST : This bill, operative January 1, 2008, revises
and recasts provisions relating to the issuance of marriage
licenses. Among other things, this bill conforms various
statutory provisions of law to those changes. This bill
regulates the issuance of confidential marriage licenses
based upon an inability of the parties to appear, as
specified, and makes related changes with regard to
notaries public and the State Registrar. In issuing a
duplicate marriage license or confidential marriage
license, this bill allows the county clerk to charge any
fee to cover the actual costs of issuing that duplicate
license, and changes the fee charged notaries public for
CONTINUED
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approval to issue confidential marriage licenses to $300.
This bill is double-jointed with AB 2051 (Cohn).
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/22/06, upon request by the
Department of Finance, restore a provision that requires
the county clerk to transmit copies of confidential
marriage certificates to the State Registrar of Vital
Statistics. That provision, found in existing law, was
removed in a previous version of the bill.
ANALYSIS : Existing law prevents disclosure of
information concerning a confidential marriage to the
public, aside from verifying the existence of a marriage,
absent a court order issued upon a showing of good cause.
[Section 511 of the Family Code (FAM)]
Existing law allows parties to enter into a confidential
marriage, provided they (1) are not minors, and (2) have
been living together as husband and wife. Those parties
must personally appear before the county clerk, unless they
submit an affidavit explaining their inability to appear.
[FAM Section 500 et seq.]
This bill deletes the requirement for parties to live
together as husband and wife prior to applying for a
confidential marriage license. This bill requires
additionally parties to personally appear, subject to the
above-mentioned marriage license exceptions.
Existing law allows county clerks to approve notaries
public to authorize confidential marriages, in one year
increments. Notaries public must submit applications to
the county clerk in the county in which they reside, and
the clerk must exercise reasonable discretion in approval
of applications. No authorization may be given absent a
notary public's submission of evidence of completion of a
course on confidential marriage. That course must not
exceed two hours in duration. [FAM Section 530 et seq.]
This bill provides that the course of instruction shall not
exceed six hours in duration.
This bill allows the county clerk to reasonably determine
the length of training that a notary public must receive
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prior to authorization. This bill also requires a county
clerk to notify the Secretary of State if the notary public
engages in certain actions.
This bill allows a notary public to renew their
authorization for a one-year period provided that the
individual has not violated the application provisions,
completed the requisite course and paid the renewal fee.
This bill increases the fee for notary public applications
or renewals to $300.
Operative January 1, 2007, this bill also allows an
applicant, witness, or person solemnizing or performing a
marriage ceremony to use his/her business address or post
office box for purposes of the certificate of registry or
marriage license.
Existing law allows a marriage to be solemnized by a
priest, minister or rabbi of any religious denomination, in
addition to certain other individuals. Parties and
witnesses must be in the presence of the individual
solemnizing the marriage. Certain members of the Armed
Forces stationed overseas may enter into marriage by the
appearance of an attorney commissioned for that purpose,
upon the presentation of the original power of attorney.
[FAM Section 400, 420]
This bill additionally allows an authorized person of any
religious denomination to solemnize a marriage and specify
that a party must be in the physical presence of the person
solemnizing the marriage.
This bill further clarifies that the original, not a copy
or facsimile of the power of attorney is required.
This bill specifies that the document issued by the county
clerk is a marriage license until it is registered with the
county clerk, at which time the marriage license becomes a
marriage certificate.
Existing law requires parties to receive a marriage license
prior to entering into a marriage. [FAM Section 350]
Existing law requires the marriage license to show the
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identity of the parties to the marriage, the parties' real
and full names, places of residence, and the parties' ages.
The county clerk may request authentic identification, in
addition to personal examination, of the applicants. [FAM
Section 351, 354]
This bill requires applicants to present photo
identification as evidence of name and date of birth,
credible affidavits may be used in lieu of that
identification. This bill allows parties' to use their
mailing addresses in lieu of their residential address on
the marriage license.
This bill requires parties requesting a marriage license to
be physically present before the county clerk, absent
sufficient reason for their absence. Parties not
appearing must (1) have the person solemnizing the marriage
physically present an affidavit to the county clerk
explaining the inability to appear, and (2) sign the
affidavit under penalty of perjury, authenticated by a
notary public or court prior to issuance of the marriage
license.
Existing law requires applicants for a marriage license to
additionally obtain a certificate of registry of marriage
from the county clerk, which must be completed by the
applicants in the presence of the clerk. The person
solemnizing the marriage shall complete the certificate
along with one witness to the marriage ceremony. The
witness must place their signature and address on the
certificate. The certificate is then returned to the
county recorder. [FAM Section 359(d)]
Existing law provides that applicants may receive a
duplicate certificate of registry upon request. That
duplicate may not be issued more than one year after
issuance of the original license, and must be returned by
the individual solemnizing the ceremony within 10 days of
issuance. [FAM Section 360]
This bill removes all references to a certificate of
registry and instead requires the person solemnizing the
marriage, in addition to one or two witnesses, to complete
the marriage license and return that license to the county
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recorder within 10 days of the ceremony. This bill
provides that once a marriage license is registered with
the county recorder, it becomes a marriage certificate.
This bill allows a duplicate marriage license to be issued
within one year after issuance, which must be returned
within one year of the issuance date of the original
license. The county clerk may charge a fee to cover actual
costs of issuing that duplicate license. Applicants would
be required to purchase a new marriage license if that
license is lost, destroyed or damaged before the ceremony.
Existing law requires the local registrar of marriages to
transmit monthly all original certificates of registry.
[Section 102355 of the Health and Safety Code (HSC)]
This bill would instead require transmission of original
marriage certificates not less than quarterly, by the local
registrar of marriages.
Existing law requires the county clerk to send copies of
judgments of dissolution of marriage, legal separation or
nullity to the State Registrar. [HSC Section 103200]
This bill clarifies that the clerk of the court is required
to send those judgments.
Existing law allows parties to request a decorative
heirloom marriage certificate. [FAM Section 424, HSC
Section 103595]
This bill repeals that provision.
This bill is double-jointed with AB 2051 (Cohn).
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/22/06)
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
(source)
Family Law Section of the State Bar
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ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The California Association of
Clerks and Election Officials, the bill's sponsor, asserts
that this bill "represents several years of work by the
County Clerk's Legislative Committee to develop clarifying
and added statutory language to reflect current procedures
for issuance and registration of marriage licenses."
The sponsor also addresses the substantive changes proposed
by the bill, specifically the increased ability of the
county clerks to address the problem of notaries who do not
follow established regulations when issuing confidential
marriage licenses:
"Notaries public noncompliance with current marriage
license regulations has been a persistent problem
resulting in delays, overcharging, and fraud. The
county clerk currently does not have the ability to
suspend or revoke a notary's authority to issue
confidential marriage licenses in the event that the
notary has not complied with set regulations. This
bill enables county clerks to continue authorizing
notaries to issue confidential marriage licenses and
provides county clerks the latitude to suspend or
revoke such authorization.
"The training course for renewal or approval to issue
confidential marriage licenses is currently not to
exceed two hours in duration. This bill allows a more
extensive training course of instruction concerning the
issuance of confidential marriage licenses by
eliminating the limitation."
Accordingly, the sponsor contends "that the changes in AB
1102 will significantly reduce the fraud and problems ?
experienced with the issuance of confidential marriage
licenses by notar[ies] public[]."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Arambula, Baca, Bass, Berg, Bermudez, Canciamilla,
Chan, Chavez, Chu, Cohn, Coto, De La Torre, Dymally,
Evans, Frommer, Goldberg, Hancock, Jerome Horton, Jones,
Karnette, Klehs, Laird, Leno, Levine, Lieber, Matthews,
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Montanez, Mullin, Nation, Nava, Oropeza, Pavley,
Ridley-Thomas, Ruskin, Saldana, Salinas, Torrico, Umberg,
Vargas, Wolk, Yee, Nunez
NOES: Aghazarian, Blakeslee, Bogh, Cogdill, Daucher,
DeVore, Emmerson, Garcia, Harman, Haynes, Shirley Horton,
Huff, Keene, La Malfa, La Suer, Leslie, Maze, McCarthy,
Mountjoy, Nakanishi, Negrete McLeod, Niello, Parra,
Plescia, Richman, Sharon Runner, Spitzer, Strickland,
Tran, Villines, Walters, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Benoit, Calderon, Gordon, Houston,
Koretz, Liu
RJG:mel 8/22/06 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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