Marriage licenses would be abolished under bill

A Senate committee approved a bill Wednesday that would get rid of the license requirement for couples seeking to marry.

Although the bill does not explicitly address the issue, Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Range, the bill's sponsor, told Senate Judiciary Committee members that the bill was a reaction to the standoff between a federal court and the Alabama Supreme Court over the legal status of same-sex marriage. Albritton described it as a way of "bringing order out of chaos."

"It does not change standing law in Alabama, whatever the law may be," Albritton said. "If the law should change in another couple of months or stand, the procedure is the same."

Under the legislation, the marriage license requirement would be replaced with a contract signed by the couple including their names, signatures and statements that they are legally allowed to be married. The contract would be executed in a probate judge's office, then filed in the office and with the Alabama Department of Public Health.

The legislation is based on a similar bill passed in Oklahoma earlier this year. Its sponsor, Sen. Todd Russ, told the liberal website Think Progress in March that the bill stemmed from his opposition to same-sex marriage. However, Albritton said Wednesday his purpose was not to target same-sex marriage, but to resolve the judicial controversy in Alabama, in which some judges of probate have refused to issue marriage licenses altogether.

"People go to get married and they can't get a license in some cases," Albritton said after the committee meeting. "The courts created a problem in the system, and I'm trying to resolve it in the easiest and simplest way."

A federal judge struck down Alabama's bans on same-sex marriage in two separate cases in late January, saying they violated same-sex couples' equal protection and due process rights under the 14th Amendment. Most — but not all — probate judges began issuing licenses to same-sex couples by mid-February. But on March 3, the Alabama Supreme Court ordered the licenses halted, declaring it had the same right to interpret the Constitution as the lower federal court and saying that the ban did not violate the couples' civil rights.

Albritton's bill explicitly does not address other issues related to marriage, including divorce and child custody. The bill would also raise certain fees that judges of probate may charge.

There was little debate in the committee over the measure, though Sen. Phil Williams, R-Rainbow City, asked if there was any intent to have contract law infringe on the body of domestic law. Albritton said there was "no intent" to do that.