Item from the Smart
Marriages Archive, reproduced in the Divorce Statistics
Collection
February 6, 1999
Panel OKs 'covenant marriage'
Watered-down version only suggests couples seek out counseling
By Dan Luzadder News Capitol Bureau / February 5, 1999
A watered-down version of the proposed "covenant marriage" bill
cleared
the House Judiciary Committee Thursday, but it no longer restricts
no-fault divorces.
Rep. Mark Paschall, R-Arvada, the bill's sponsor, agreed to replace most
of the original language with what amounts to a "suggestion" that
couples
seek counseling before marriage.
The reworded proposal declares that couples should consider marriage a
lifelong commitment, and agree to "mediation and arbitration"
when things
are not going well.
The original bill would have offered couples seeking a marriage license
the option of a covenant marriage, a legally binding contract that
required counseling, and stipulated the grounds on which one spouse could
seek a divorce.
Those grounds included adultery, alcohol or drug abuse, child abuse,
commission of a felony and physical or sexual abuse. Violating those
restrictions could have affected property settlements in a divorce.
Even supporters of that bill said there were concerned about provisions
that required counseling -- even when there was evidence of domestic
abuse.
The modified version, which removed all of those provisions, passed the
Judiciary Committee on an 8-5 vote and was sent to the full House for
debate.
But Rep. Marcy Morrison, R-Manitou Springs, still quarreled with the
bill's intent.
"I hear from my constituents all the time, 'stay out of my bedroom,
stay
out of my house,"' she said.
| Smart
Marriages Archive | New Divorce
Statistics and Studies Blog | Older Divorce
Statistics Collection Archive |