Alabama Senate passes bill to ‘get the state out of the marriage business’

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May 20, 2015

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama Senate passed Tuesday SB377, a bill to “get the state out of the marriage business,” by a vote of 22-3.

SB377 would remove the duty of confirming marriages from county probate judges. It would also allow marriages to be recorded by the state after filing a simple contract between two people eligible to be married that is solemnized by a pastor, attorney, or other authorized witness.

Though some are characterizing the bill as a reaction to the possibility of the state being required to perform and recognize marriages between same-sex couples, Albritton maintains he is simply removing the government from an area it never should have been in the first place.

“Right now, Alabama is in a chaotic state as far as marriage is concerned, he said. “You have a federal court that has ruled one way (in terms of same-sex marriage) and a state court that has ruled in another way.”

“When you invite the state into those matters of personal or religious import, it creates difficulties,” Albritton said of his bill in April. “Go back long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away. Early twentieth century, if you go back and look and try to find marriage licenses for your grandparents or great grandparents, you won’t find it. What you will find instead is where people have come in and recorded when a marriage has occurred.”

SB377 also raises some of the fees required to file a marriage contract; fees the Legislative Fiscal Office predicts would increase revenues to the General Fund by $1.3 million a year.

The bill encountered little debate while in the Senate, but is expected to inspire lively discussion during its next stop in the House.