By: Whitmire S.B. No. 1317
(Thompson of Harris)
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. Section 2.202, Family Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsection (b-1) 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, judge of a municipal
court, retired judge of a municipal court, or judge or magistrate of
a federal court of this state; and
(5) a retired judge or magistrate of a federal court of
this state.
(b) For the purposes of Subsection (a)(4) [this section], 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 who has an aggregate of at
least 12 years of service as judge or justice of any type listed in
Subsection (a)(4).
(b-1) For the purposes of Subsection (a)(5), a retired judge
or magistrate is a former judge or magistrate of a federal court of
this state who is fully vested in the Federal Employees Retirement
System under 28 U.S.C. Section 371 or 377.
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, 2013.