97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2011 and 2012
HB5170

 

Introduced 2/8/2012, by Rep. Greg Harris - Deborah Mell - Kelly M. Cassidy - Ann Williams

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
See Index

    Creates the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act. Contains provisions regarding purposes, rules of construction, and severability. Provides that: all laws of this State applicable to marriage apply equally to marriages of same-sex and different-sex couples and their children; parties to a marriage and their children, regardless of whether the marriage is of a same-sex or different-sex couple, have the same benefits, protections, and responsibilities under law; parties to a marriage are included in any definition or use of terms such as "spouse", "family", "immediate family", "dependent", "next of kin", "wife", "husband", "bride", "groom", "wedlock", and other terms that refer to or denote the spousal relationship, as those terms are used throughout the law, regardless of whether the parties to a marriage are of the same sex or different sexes; and, to the extent laws this State adopt, refer to, or rely upon provisions of federal law as applicable to this State, parties to a marriage of the same sex and their children shall be treated under the law of this State as if federal law recognized the marriages of same-sex couples in the same manner as the law of this State. Amends the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act by making various changes concerning: parties who may marry; solemnization; prohibited marriages; jurisdiction; and other matters. Amends the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act. Makes various changes and additions regarding recognition of marriages. Authorizes the voluntary conversion of a civil union to a marriage under specified circumstances. Makes other changes.


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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

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1    AN ACT concerning civil law.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act.
 
6    Section 5. Purposes; rules of construction. This Act shall
7be liberally construed and applied to promote its underlying
8purpose, which is to provide same-sex and different-sex couples
9and their children equal access to the status, benefits,
10protections, rights, and responsibilities of civil marriage.
 
11    Section 10. Equal access to marriage.
12    (a) All laws of the State of Illinois, whether they derive
13from statute, administrative or court rule, policy, common law,
14or any other source of civil or criminal law, applicable to
15marriage shall apply equally to marriages of same-sex and
16different-sex couples and their children.
17     (b) Parties to a marriage and their children, regardless
18of whether the marriage consists of a same-sex or different-sex
19couple, shall have all the same benefits, protections, and
20responsibilities under law, whether they derive from statute,
21administrative or court rule, policy, common law, or any other
22source of civil or criminal law.

 

 

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1    (c) Parties to a marriage shall be included in any
2definition or use of terms such as "spouse", "family",
3"immediate family", "dependent", "next of kin", "wife",
4"husband", "bride", "groom", "wedlock", and other terms that
5refer to or denote the spousal relationship, as those terms are
6used throughout the law, regardless of whether the parties to a
7marriage are of the same sex or different sexes.
8    (d) To the extent any of the laws of Illinois adopt, refer
9to, or rely upon provisions of federal law as applicable to
10this State, parties to a marriage of the same sex and their
11children shall be treated under the law of this State as if
12federal law recognized the marriages of same-sex couples in the
13same manner as the law of this State.
 
14    Section 15. Severability. If any part of this Act or its
15application to any person or circumstance is adjudged invalid,
16such adjudication or application shall not affect the validity
17of this Act as a whole or of any other part.
 
18    Section 905. The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of
19Marriage Act is amended by changing Sections 201, 209, and 212
20and by adding Section 220 as follows:
 
21    (750 ILCS 5/201)  (from Ch. 40, par. 201)
22    Sec. 201. Formalities.) A marriage between 2 persons a man
23and a woman licensed, solemnized and registered as provided in

 

 

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1this Act is valid in this State.
2(Source: P.A. 80-923.)
 
3    (750 ILCS 5/209)  (from Ch. 40, par. 209)
4    Sec. 209. Solemnization and Registration.)
5    (a) A marriage may be solemnized by a judge of a court of
6record, by a retired judge of a court of record, unless the
7retired judge was removed from office by the Judicial Inquiry
8Board, except that a retired judge shall not receive any
9compensation from the State, a county or any unit of local
10government in return for the solemnization of a marriage and
11there shall be no effect upon any pension benefits conferred by
12the Judges Retirement System of Illinois, by a judge of the
13Court of Claims, by a county clerk in counties having 2,000,000
14or more inhabitants, by a public official whose powers include
15solemnization of marriages, or in accordance with the
16prescriptions of any religious denomination, Indian Nation or
17Tribe or Native Group, provided that when such prescriptions
18require an officiant, the officiant be in good standing with
19his or her religious denomination, Indian Nation or Tribe or
20Native Group. Either the person solemnizing the marriage, or,
21if no individual acting alone solemnized the marriage, both
22parties to the marriage, shall complete the marriage
23certificate form and forward it to the county clerk within 10
24days after such marriage is solemnized.
25    (a-5) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require any

 

 

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1religious denomination, Indian Nation or Tribe or Native Group,
2or any officiant acting as a representative of a religious
3denomination, Indian Nation or Tribe or Native Group, to
4solemnize any marriage. Instead, any religious denomination,
5Indian Nation or Tribe or Native Group is free to choose which
6marriages it will solemnize.
7    (b) The solemnization of the marriage is not invalidated by
8the fact that the person solemnizing the marriage was not
9legally qualified to solemnize it, if either party to the
10marriage believed him or her to be so qualified or by the fact
11that the marriage was inadvertently solemnized in a county in
12Illinois other than the county where the license was issued.
13(Source: P.A. 95-775, eff. 1-1-09.)
 
14    (750 ILCS 5/212)  (from Ch. 40, par. 212)
15    Sec. 212. Prohibited Marriages.
16    (a) The following marriages are prohibited:
17        (1) a marriage entered into prior to the dissolution of
18    an earlier marriage of one of the parties;
19        (2) a marriage between an ancestor and a descendant or
20    between siblings a brother and a sister, whether the
21    relationship is by the half or the whole blood or by
22    adoption;
23        (3) a marriage between an uncle and a niece, between an
24    uncle and a nephew, or between an aunt and a nephew, or
25    between an aunt and a niece, whether the relationship is by

 

 

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1    the half or the whole blood;
2        (4) a marriage between cousins of the first degree;
3    however, a marriage between first cousins is not prohibited
4    if:
5            (i) both parties are 50 years of age or older; or
6            (ii) either party, at the time of application for a
7        marriage license, presents for filing with the county
8        clerk of the county in which the marriage is to be
9        solemnized, a certificate signed by a licensed
10        physician stating that the party to the proposed
11        marriage is permanently and irreversibly sterile;
12        (5) (blank). a marriage between 2 individuals of the
13    same sex.
14    (b) Parties to a marriage prohibited under subsection (a)
15of this Section who cohabit after removal of the impediment are
16lawfully married as of the date of the removal of the
17impediment.
18    (c) Children born or adopted of a prohibited or common law
19marriage are the lawful children of the parties.
20(Source: P.A. 94-229, eff. 1-1-06.)
 
21    (750 ILCS 5/220 new)
22    Sec. 220. Consent to jurisdiction. Members of a same-sex
23couple who enter into a marriage in Illinois consent to the
24jurisdiction of the courts of Illinois for the purpose of any
25action relating to the marriage even if one or both parties

 

 

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1cease to reside in this State. A court shall enter a judgment
2of dissolution of marriage if at the time the action is
3commenced it meets the grounds for dissolution of marriage set
4forth in this Act.
 
5    (750 ILCS 5/213.1 rep.)
6    Section 910. The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of
7Marriage Act is amended by repealing Section 213.1.
 
8    Section 915. The Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and
9Civil Union Act is amended by changing Section 60 and by adding
10Section 65 as follows:
 
11    (750 ILCS 75/60)
12    Sec. 60. Respect for marriages and civil unions entered
13into in other jurisdictions Reciprocity. A marriage between
14persons of the same sex, a civil union, or a substantially
15similar legal relationship other than common law marriage,
16legally entered into in another jurisdiction, shall be
17recognized in Illinois as a civil union. A marriage, whether of
18the same sex or different sexes and providing that it is not a
19common law marriage, legally entered into in another
20jurisdiction, shall be recognized in Illinois as a marriage in
21accordance with the provisions of the Illinois Marriage and
22Dissolution of Marriage Act except that Section 216 of the
23Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act shall not

 

 

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1apply to marriages of same-sex couples validly entered into in
2another jurisdiction.
3(Source: P.A. 96-1513, eff. 6-1-11.)
 
4    (750 ILCS 75/65 new)
5    Sec. 65. Voluntary conversion of civil union to marriage.
6    (a) Parties to a civil union may apply for and receive a
7marriage license and have such marriage solemnized and
8registered pursuant to Section 209 of the Illinois Marriage and
9Dissolution of Marriage Act, provided the parties are otherwise
10eligible to marry and the parties to the marriage are the same
11as the parties to the civil union. The fee for application for
12a marriage license shall be waived in such circumstances.
13    (b) For a period of one year following the effective date
14of this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly, parties to
15a civil union may have their civil union legally designated and
16recorded as a marriage, deemed effective on the date of
17solemnization of the civil union, without payment of any fee,
18provided the parties' civil union has not been dissolved and
19there is no pending proceeding to dissolve the civil union.
20Upon application to a county clerk, the parties shall be issued
21a marriage certificate. The parties' signatures on the marriage
22certificate and return of the signed certificate for recording
23shall be sufficient to convert the civil union into a marriage.
24The county clerk shall notify the Department of Public Health
25within 45 days by furnishing a copy of the certificate to the

 

 

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1Department of Public Health.
2    (c) When parties to a civil union have married, or when
3their civil union has been converted to a marriage under this
4Section, the parties, as of the date stated in the marriage
5certificate, shall no longer be considered in a civil union and
6shall be in a legal marriage.

 

 

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1 INDEX
2 Statutes amended in order of appearance
3    New Act
4    750 ILCS 5/201from Ch. 40, par. 201
5    750 ILCS 5/209from Ch. 40, par. 209
6    750 ILCS 5/212from Ch. 40, par. 212
7    750 ILCS 5/220 new
8    750 ILCS 5/213.1 rep.
9    750 ILCS 75/60
10    750 ILCS 75/65 new