SLS 16RS-3258 ORIGINAL
2016 Regular Session
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 143
BY SENATOR MORRELL
SENATE. Requests the Louisiana State Law Institute to study and make recommendations
to the Louisiana Legislature regarding state law post-Obergefell v. Hodges.
1 A RESOLUTION
2 To urge and request the Marriage-Persons Committee of the Louisiana State Law Institute
3 to study, and the Louisiana State Law Institute to make, annual comprehensive and
4 ongoing recommendations to the Legislature regarding state law post Obergefell v.
5 Hodges, including but not limited to recommendations in the form of proposed
6 legislation for revisions to laws governing families, persons, community property,
7 successions, immovable property, the rights of third parties, procedure, and the
8 stability and validity of transactions.
9 WHEREAS, in Obergefell v. Hodges, the United States Supreme Court in 2015 held
10 that state bans on same-sex marriage violate both the Due Process and Equal Protection
11 Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and further
12 recognized that there was no lawful basis to uphold so-called "recognition bans" purporting
13 to ban the recognition of same-sex marriages performed under the laws of other states; and
14 WHEREAS, in state cases such as Costanza v. Caldwell the Louisiana Supreme
15 Court discussed the effects of Obergefell and pointed out that the United States Supreme
16 Court's interpretation of the federal constitution is final and binding upon all of the courts
17 of Louisiana, and further that Obergefell compels the conclusion that the state of Louisiana
18 may not bar same-sex couples from the civil effects of marriage on the same terms accorded
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SLS 16RS-3258 ORIGINAL
1 to opposite-sex couples; and
2 WHEREAS, in a preliminary report to the Legislature concerning same-sex marriage
3 dated March 16, 2016, the Marriage-Persons Committee of the Louisiana State Law Institute
4 pointed out that these rulings have immediately and significantly impacted many areas of
5 Louisiana law and have further immediately made invalid and inaccurate and outdated the
6 present language of numerous existing statutory provisions, including constitutional
7 provisions and laws governing the rights of individuals, family law, maternity, paternity,
8 community property, debt and other obligations of spouses, transactions involving
9 immovable property, successions, procedure, and the rights and settled expectations of third
10 parties under existing law; and
11 WHEREAS, an additional significant concern noted by the report was the potential
12 retroactive application of the effects of Obergefell and the impact of such retroactive
13 application upon marital relationships, community property, successions, and the rights of
14 third parties, including buyers of immovable property and creditors alike; and
15 WHEREAS, in light of these rulings and issues, the study and development of
16 comprehensive and ongoing revisions to numerous existing provisions of Louisiana law is
17 necessary in order to enact statutory language that reduces legal uncertainty, promotes the
18 orderly administration of justice, provides protections to persons and stability to family
19 relationships and property regimes, and prevents problematic judicial action and
20 interpretation of law adversely impacting families and innocent third parties; and
21 WHEREAS, the Marriage-Persons Committee of the Louisiana State Law Institute
22 should conduct such a study and the Louisiana State Law Institute should prepare, on an
23 annual basis, comprehensive and ongoing recommendations in the form and content of
24 substantive legislation to revise existing provisions, or enact new provisions, of Louisiana
25 law in order to address these issues.
26 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
27 urge and request the Marriage-Persons Committee of the Louisiana State Law Institute to
28 study, and the Louisiana State Law Institute to make, annual comprehensive and ongoing
29 recommendations to the Legislature regarding state law post Obergefell v. Hodges, including
30 but not limited to recommendations in the form of proposed legislation for revisions to laws
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SLS 16RS-3258 ORIGINAL
1 governing family relations, community property, successions, immovable property, the
2 rights of third parties, procedure, and the stability and validity of transactions.
3 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, at least forty-five days prior to the convening
4 of each regular legislative session, the Louisiana State Law Institute shall report its findings
5 and recommendations in the form of proposed legislation to the Legislature of Louisiana.
6 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
7 director of the Louisiana State Law Institute.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by James Benton.
DIGEST
SR 143 Original 2016 Regular Session Morrell
Requests the Marriage-Persons Committee of the Louisiana State Law Institute to study and
make recommendations to the Louisiana Legislature regarding state law post Obergefell v.
Hodges.
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