Sen. Heather A. Steans

Filed: 1/2/2013

 

 


 

 


 
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1
AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 4963

2    AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 4963 by replacing
3everything after the enacting clause with the following:
 
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

 

 

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1different-sex couples and their children.
2    (b) Parties to a marriage and their children, regardless of
3whether the marriage consists of a same-sex or different-sex
4couple, shall have all the same benefits, protections, and
5responsibilities under law, whether they derive from statute,
6administrative or court rule, policy, common law, or any other
7source of civil or criminal law.
8    (c) Parties to a marriage shall be included in any
9definition or use of terms such as "spouse", "family",
10"immediate family", "dependent", "next of kin", "wife",
11"husband", "bride", "groom", "wedlock", and other terms that
12refer to or denote the spousal relationship, as those terms are
13used throughout the law, regardless of whether the parties to a
14marriage are of the same sex or different sexes.
15    (d) To the extent any of the laws of Illinois adopt, refer
16to, or rely upon provisions of federal law as applicable to
17this State, parties to a marriage of the same sex and their
18children shall be treated under the law of this State as if
19federal law recognized the marriages of same-sex couples in the
20same manner as the law of this State.
 
21    Section 15. Severability. If any part of this Act or its
22application to any person or circumstance is adjudged invalid,
23such adjudication or application shall not affect the validity
24of this Act as a whole or of any other part.
 

 

 

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1    Section 905. The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of
2Marriage Act is amended by changing Sections 201, 209, and 212
3and by adding Section 220 as follows:
 
4    (750 ILCS 5/201)  (from Ch. 40, par. 201)
5    Sec. 201. Formalities.) A marriage between 2 persons a man
6and a woman licensed, solemnized and registered as provided in
7this Act is valid in this State.
8(Source: P.A. 80-923.)
 
9    (750 ILCS 5/209)  (from Ch. 40, par. 209)
10    Sec. 209. Solemnization and Registration.)
11    (a) A marriage may be solemnized by a judge of a court of
12record, by a retired judge of a court of record, unless the
13retired judge was removed from office by the Judicial Inquiry
14Board, except that a retired judge shall not receive any
15compensation from the State, a county or any unit of local
16government in return for the solemnization of a marriage and
17there shall be no effect upon any pension benefits conferred by
18the Judges Retirement System of Illinois, by a judge of the
19Court of Claims, by a county clerk in counties having 2,000,000
20or more inhabitants, by a public official whose powers include
21solemnization of marriages, or in accordance with the
22prescriptions of any religious denomination, Indian Nation or
23Tribe or Native Group, provided that when such prescriptions
24require an officiant, the officiant be in good standing with

 

 

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1his or her religious denomination, Indian Nation or Tribe or
2Native Group. Either the person solemnizing the marriage, or,
3if no individual acting alone solemnized the marriage, both
4parties to the marriage, shall complete the marriage
5certificate form and forward it to the county clerk within 10
6days after such marriage is solemnized.
7    (a-5) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require any
8religious denomination or Indian Nation or Tribe or Native
9Group, or any minister, clergy, or officiant acting as a
10representative of a religious denomination or Indian Nation or
11Tribe or Native Group, to solemnize any marriage. Instead, any
12religious denomination or Indian Nation or Tribe or Native
13Group, or any minister, clergy, or officiant acting as a
14representative of a religious denomination or Indian Nation or
15Tribe or Native Group is free to choose which marriages it will
16solemnize. No refusal by a religious denomination or Indian
17Nation or Tribe or Native Group, or any minister, clergy, or
18officiant acting as a representative of a religious
19denomination or Indian Nation or Tribe or Native Group to
20solemnize any marriage under this Act shall create or be the
21basis for any civil, administrative, or criminal penalty,
22claim, or cause of action.
23    (a-10)(1) For purposes of this subsection (a-10),
24"religious organization" is limited to churches, mosques,
25synagogues, temples, nondenominational ministries,
26interdenominational and ecumenical organizations, mission

 

 

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1organizations, and other faith-based associations and
2societies whose principal purpose is the study, practice, or
3advancement of religion.
4    (2) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require a
5religious organization as defined in paragraph (1) of this
6subsection (a-10) to make available a parish hall or other
7religious facility on the premises of a church, mosque,
8synagogue, temple, or other house of worship for solemnization
9or celebration of a marriage that is in violation of the
10religious organization's religious beliefs, provided that:
11        (A) the religious facility is primarily used by members
12    of the parish or congregation for worship and other
13    religious purposes;
14        (B) for solemnization and celebration of marriages,
15    the religious organization generally restricts use of the
16    religious facility to its members and opens the facility
17    only occasionally to non-members on an unpaid basis; and
18        (C) the religious organization does not make the
19    religious facility available to the general public for
20    rental or use for which a rental fee or other compensation
21    is required or for which public funding or other public
22    benefit is received.
23    (3) Nothing in this Section shall be interpreted to exempt
24the owner or operator of any religious facility from the
25requirements of the Illinois Human Rights Act if the religious
26facility is a place of public accommodation as defined in

 

 

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1Section 5-101 of the Illinois Human Rights Act.
2    (4) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent a
3religious organization as defined in paragraph (1) of this
4subsection (a-10) from limiting employment to individuals of
5the same religious faith or from making internal personnel
6decisions concerning the terms and conditions of employment for
7positions (A) that require a significant degree of religious
8training and (B) whose primary duties are ministerial in
9nature, such as conducting worship services or providing
10religious instruction.
11    (b) The solemnization of the marriage is not invalidated by
12the fact that the person solemnizing the marriage was not
13legally qualified to solemnize it, if either party to the
14marriage believed him or her to be so qualified or by the fact
15that the marriage was inadvertently solemnized in a county in
16Illinois other than the county where the license was issued.
17(Source: P.A. 95-775, eff. 1-1-09.)
 
18    (750 ILCS 5/212)  (from Ch. 40, par. 212)
19    Sec. 212. Prohibited Marriages.
20    (a) The following marriages are prohibited:
21        (1) a marriage entered into prior to the dissolution of
22    an earlier marriage of one of the parties;
23        (2) a marriage between an ancestor and a descendant or
24    between siblings a brother and a sister, whether the
25    relationship is by the half or the whole blood or by

 

 

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

 

 

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1    Sec. 220. Consent to jurisdiction. Members of a same-sex
2couple who enter into a marriage in Illinois consent to the
3jurisdiction of the courts of Illinois for the purpose of any
4action relating to the marriage even if one or both parties
5cease to reside in this State. A court shall enter a judgment
6of dissolution of marriage if at the time the action is
7commenced it meets the grounds for dissolution of marriage set
8forth in this Act.
 
9    (750 ILCS 5/213.1 rep.)
10    Section 910. The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of
11Marriage Act is amended by repealing Section 213.1.
 
12    Section 915. The Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and
13Civil Union Act is amended by changing Section 60 and by adding
14Section 65 as follows:
 
15    (750 ILCS 75/60)
16    Sec. 60. Respect for marriages and civil unions entered
17into in other jurisdictions Reciprocity. A marriage between
18persons of the same sex, a civil union, or a substantially
19similar legal relationship other than common law marriage,
20legally entered into in another jurisdiction, shall be
21recognized in Illinois as a civil union. A marriage, whether of
22the same sex or different sexes and providing that it is not a
23common law marriage, legally entered into in another

 

 

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1jurisdiction, shall be recognized in Illinois as a marriage in
2accordance with the provisions of the Illinois Marriage and
3Dissolution of Marriage Act except that Section 216 of the
4Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act shall not
5apply to marriages of same-sex couples validly entered into in
6another jurisdiction.
7(Source: P.A. 96-1513, eff. 6-1-11.)
 
8    (750 ILCS 75/65 new)
9    Sec. 65. Voluntary conversion of civil union to marriage.
10    (a) Parties to a civil union may apply for and receive a
11marriage license and have such marriage solemnized and
12registered pursuant to Section 209 of the Illinois Marriage and
13Dissolution of Marriage Act, provided the parties are otherwise
14eligible to marry and the parties to the marriage are the same
15as the parties to the civil union. The fee for application for
16a marriage license shall be waived in such circumstances.
17    (b) For a period of one year following the effective date
18of this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly, parties to
19a civil union may have their civil union legally designated and
20recorded as a marriage, deemed effective on the date of
21solemnization of the civil union, without payment of any fee,
22provided the parties' civil union has not been dissolved and
23there is no pending proceeding to dissolve the civil union.
24Upon application to a county clerk, the parties shall be issued
25a marriage certificate. The parties' signatures on the marriage

 

 

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1certificate and return of the signed certificate for recording
2shall be sufficient to convert the civil union into a marriage.
3The county clerk shall notify the Department of Public Health
4within 45 days by furnishing a copy of the certificate to the
5Department of Public Health.
6    (c) When parties to a civil union have married, or when
7their civil union has been converted to a marriage under this
8Section, the parties, as of the date stated in the marriage
9certificate, shall no longer be considered in a civil union and
10shall be in a legal marriage.
 
11    Section 997. Severability. The provisions of this Act are
12severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.
 
13    Section 999. Effective date. This Act takes effect 30 days
14after becoming law.".