Arkansas legalizes marriage between 6 y/o's

[Okla-homey]

This ain't the Onion folks, its what happens when non-lawyers draft legislation.


B]LITTLE ROCK, Ark[/B]. — A law passed this year allows Arkansans of any age -- even infants -- to marry if their parents agree, and the governor may have to call a special session to fix the mistake, lawmakers said Friday.

The legislation was intended to establish 18 as the minimum age to marry but also allow pregnant teenagers to marry with parental consent, bill sponsor Rep. Will Bond said. An extraneous "not" in the bill, however, allows anyone who is not pregnant to marry at any age if the parents allow it.

"It's clearly not the intent to allow 10-year-olds or 11-year-olds to get married," Bond said. "The legislation was screwed up."

The bill reads: "In order for a person who is younger than eighteen years of age and who is not pregnant to obtain a marriage license, the person must provide the county clerk with evidence of parental consent to the marriage."

A code revision commission -- which fixes typographical and technical errors in laws -- had tried to correct the mistake, but a group of legislators said Friday the commission went beyond its powers.

"You're either pregnant or you're not pregnant," Sen. Dave Bisbee said. "Rarely will that be a typographical error."

The Arkansas Legislative Council asked the independent commission to reverse its correction. Several lawmakers said a special session may be necessary.

"We need a special session to fix this," Sen. Sue Madison said. "I am concerned about pedophiles coming to Arkansas to find parents who are willing to sign a very young child's consent."

Before the new law took effect July 31, girls could get married with parental consent at 16 and boys at 17.

The Legislature formally adjourned its session in May and is not scheduled to meet again until January 2009, unless Gov. Mike Beebe calls a special session.

[OCUDad]

I don't see where that's any worse than when lawyers draft legislation.

[Okla-homey]

I don't see where that's any worse than when lawyers draft legislation.

No lawyer worth his license would have allowed that bill to go to a vote worded that way.

[OCUDad]

I was being sarcastic. I forgot lawyers were so sensitive. :(

[SicEmBaylor]

Typically, they don't draft the legislation themselves at all, Lawyers or non-lawyers. There's a team (in every legislature that I'm aware of so I'm assuming Arkansas) of attorneys whose sole and singular purpose is to do the actual drafting of legislation. Not all bills go through that process as it's not always needed, but that's how most legislation is drafted that results in some sort of legal change like this.

Most of the time Legislators don't do the actual technical drafting of the legislation themselves.

[Newbomb Turk]

Most of the time Legislators don't do the actual technical drafting of the legislation themselves.

or reading of it before it passes.

[SicEmBaylor]

or reading of it before it passes.
That's also true. Dick Armey said, just before he retired, that the only damned member of Congress that he could think of that read EVERY piece of legislation that came to the floor was Tom Coburn.

[SicEmBaylor]

In their defense though it really isn't easy to read every piece of legislation especially on teh national level. In fact, I'm not sure how the hell it could be done.

I'm working on a half-dozen pieces of legislation from the last Texas legislative session. I have to write a brief up and attach a position paper on it, but it requires that I read the whole damned bill. Somtimes that's not difficult since they range from as short as half a page as in one case and upwards of 30-40 pages.

Reviewing Jessica's Law has been very very difficult for me, because I'm not an attorney and most of it involves changes in state code. I have to look up the previous code and then figure out what effect the change has. State legislators of course have more resources and experience than I have, but this is a difficult thing for one person to do. I can't imagine doing it for EVERY piece of legislation.

It's also easy for the small stuff to fall through the cracks.

[olevetonahill]

So ur sayin I can get an arkie girl and raise her the way I want ?:P

[bluedogok]

No lawyer worth his license would have allowed that bill to go to a vote worded that way.
If lawyers had written that it would have the same effect but be 400 pages long and have many other unintended consequences, just like ALL other legislation seems to have that has been written by lawyers. They have more than their fair share of incompetent ones just like every other line of work.

The problem is there are too many laws so a new one is usually in conflict with an existing one.

[Shaz-Bot]

Will you marry me?

http://brouhaha.blogs.com/brouhaha/images/imjustabill.jpg

Shaz-Bot

[phead903]

Welcome to "The Natural State"...:confused:

[Spray]

Reviewing Jessica's Law has been very very difficult for me, because I'm not an attorney and most of it involves changes in state code. I have to look up the previous code and then figure out what effect the change has. State legislators of course have more resources and experience than I have, but this is a difficult thing for one person to do. I can't imagine doing it for EVERY piece of legislation.



Do you have access to Westlaw? If so, PM me your email and I'll walk you through a quick and easy way to gather the statute, previous versions, and legislative history for this.

If not, and you are still working on this PM your email anyway and I'll see if I can't help you out anyway by getting you some citations.

[SicEmBaylor]

Do you have access to Westlaw? If so, PM me your email and I'll walk you through a quick and easy way to gather the statute, previous versions, and legislative history for this.

If not, and you are still working on this PM your email anyway and I'll see if I can't help you out anyway by getting you some citations.

Done!

[goingoneight]

Is this rebellion for the laws of nature against incest? :confused:

[OUTromBoNado]

The Legislature formally adjourned its session in May and is not scheduled to meet again until January 2009, unless Gov. Mike Beebe calls a special session.

Now, I don't know much about how gov'tment is run, but is it normal for a legislature to NOT meet for 1 year and 8 months, or is that a typo, too?

[SicEmBaylor]

Now, I don't know much about how gov'tment is run, but is it normal for a legislature to NOT meet for 1 year and 8 months, or is that a typo, too?

The Texas legislature only meets every two years (every odd numbered year).

[Octavian]

sweet.


Arkansas is the unemployed next door neighbor who never mows the lawn and always forgets to take out the trash.

[SicEmBaylor]

This may be the only time Gov. Beebe is mentioned around here, so I'm going to take this opportunity to say that I really like the guy. He's a Democrat, but he somewhat reminds me of a Diet Zell Miller.

I was watching C-SPAN cover a round table discussion with the former Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court and former Supreme Court Justice O'Conner at the National Governor's Association. So, Beebe is there and he asks a couple of REALLY good questions about the loss of state sovereignty to the power of a Federal government that knows no bounds and is seemingly unlimited by the federalist principles of the constitution. The guy wasn't blowing smoke, he was genuinely concerned with his loss of power his state has suffered. I admired that a great deal.

And by the way, our Boy Gov was there drinking a Diet Coke and looking like he could use a nap.

[AlbqSooner]

"You're either pregnant or you're not pregnant," Sen. Dave Bisbee said. "Rarely will that be a typographical error."

Does a missed period count as a typographical error?

[Flagstaffsooner]

What does an Arkansas girl say during sex?












Git off me Pa, yur crushin' my smokes.

[OUTromBoNado]

The Texas legislature only meets every two years (every odd numbered year).

No wonder legislatures don't get anything done.

[SicEmBaylor]

No wonder legislatures don't get anything done.
They get more done than what you think. Their staffs and others lay down the preparatory work in the off-session year so that when the gavel strikes they race at breakneck speed to complete everything. It actually makes things more efficient than you might otherwise think.

Also, unless there is a crisis or some problem that absolutely has to be dealt with then I'm not a huge fan of the legislature being in almost constant session. When they're in session they feel compelled to legislate and that, more often than not, isn't a good thing.

There have been times though in recent years that the legislature has been unable to complete its work during the regular session so the Governor has had to call a special session to complete the work. That's always an option.

[Frozen Sooner]

Plus, if the legislature isn't always in session the legislators can actually get some time with their constituents.

Alaska has a big problem with a lot of legislators being a good 600+ miles from their constituents most of the time.

[bluedogok]

No wonder legislatures don't get anything done.
I don't know, whenever the legislature is in session it reminds me of the Mark Twain quote.


No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.

All you have to do is look at Washington DC and see how bad a full time legislature can screw us.

[olevetonahill]

When they aint in session , they aint ****in things up !

[SicEmBaylor]

Democracy is best when applied sparingly.