81R9716 JSC-F
By: Kolkhorst H.B. No. 2472
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to persons authorized to perform a marriage ceremony.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 2.202(a) and (b), Family Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) The following persons are authorized to conduct a
marriage ceremony:
(1) a licensed or ordained Christian minister or
priest;
(2) a Jewish rabbi;
(3) a person who is an officer of a religious
organization and who is authorized by the organization to conduct a
marriage ceremony; [and]
(4) a justice of the supreme court, judge of the court
of criminal appeals, justice of the courts of appeals, judge of the
district, county, and probate courts, judge of the county courts at
law, judge of the courts of domestic relations, judge of the
juvenile courts, [retired justice or judge of those courts,]
justice of the peace, [retired justice of the peace,] or judge or
magistrate of a federal court of this state;
(5) a judge or magistrate of a federal court of another
state;
(6) a judge or justice of a court of another state that
is analogous to a court listed in Subdivision (4); and
(7) a retired judge, justice, or magistrate of a court
listed in Subdivision (4), (5), or (6).
(b) For the purposes of this section, a retired judge,
justice, or magistrate is:
(1) [a retired judge or justice is] a former judge or
justice who is vested in the Judicial Retirement System of Texas
Plan One or the Judicial Retirement System of Texas Plan Two; or
(2) a former judge, justice, or magistrate who has an
aggregate of at least eight [12] years of service as a judge, [or]
justice, or magistrate of any type listed in Subsection (a)(4),
(5), or (6).
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a marriage ceremony that is conducted on or after the effective
date of this Act. A marriage ceremony conducted before the
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the
date the ceremony was conducted, and the former law is continued in
effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.