Bill to End Marriage Licenses Passed in Alabama Senate

By: Laura Meyers

Alabama’s state legislature passed a bill in the senate that would terminate the need for marriage licenses. Marriage would become a plain contract filed with the Probate offices. Who would’ve thought?

Senate Bill 377 passed with a majority vote of 22-3, and is now on its way to the house floor.

“Effective July 1, 2015, the only requirement to be married in this state shall be for parties who are otherwise legally authorized to be married to enter into a contract of marriage as provided herein,” the bill states.

If the bill passes, Alabama would be the first state to not require a marriage license from the state.

Attorney Jake Watson explained to WHNT 19 News that the bill, “really does away with the traditional sense of a marriage certificate and what we’ve been dealing with in Alabama as far as marriage certificates for more than a hundred years, I believe.”

“A statement that the parties are legally authorized to be married, that’s going to be the catch. What is legally authorized to be married? Under the State of Alabama Law, that would not include same-sex marriage,” he said.

This all precedes a Supreme Court ruling that is to come later this month.