Legislators seek to reduce suffering by reducing divorce

AUSTIN–Conservative lawmakers are pushing legislation to reform Texas’ family law code, one bill at a time. While previous legislative sessions have passed bills pertaining to healthy marriages and promoting premarital counseling, the 81st session of the Texas legislature is considering a bill that would encourage couples headed toward divorce to reconsider.

While many Christians held out hope of passage of former State Rep. Bill Zedler’s bill to offer an option between a standard marriage license and a covenant marriage, the current climate of the Texas Legislature appears unlikely to entertain such a proposal.

However, Rep. Warren Chisum of Pampa introduced House Bill 480 earlier this year to require a 10-hour marriage education course for couples with minor children who are filing for divorce on the grounds of insupportability. It was scheduled for public hearing on March 16.

In pushing family law reform, these lawmakers say they hope to lower the state’s divorce costs, pull potentially broken homes out of poverty, and promote a more stable society.

Statistics vary regarding divorce rates. A March 2008 Barna Research study discovered one-third of married adults have experienced divorce, either in their own marriages or as a child of a failed marriage.

“This means that among all Americans 18 years of age or older, whether they have been married or not, 25 percent have gone through a marital split,” a release on the Barna website noted.

In comparing the divorce rate of born-again Christians to the divorce rate of non-believing adults, the study revealed a nearly identical figure–32 percent versus 33 percent, respectively. Speaking to the findings of his study, George Barna called divorce an “unavoidable rite of passage.”

“Interviews with young adults suggest that they want their initial marriage to last, but are not particularly optimistic about that possibility,” he said. “There is also evidence that many young people are moving toward embracing the idea of serial marriage, in which a person gets married two or three times, seeking a different partner for each phase of their adult life.”

Barna’s research confirms that positive and traditional views regarding marriage have taken a hit in the last two decades. The National Healthy Marriage Resource Center reported that less than one-half of all high school seniors believe that choosing marriage over remaining single or cohabiting leads to a fuller, happier life.

These data support overall trends indicating Americans are adopting increasingly positive attitudes toward nontraditional marital and family values including divorce, cohabitation, remaining single, egalitarian gender roles, and premarital sex.

In 2005, Texas reported 3.3 divorces per 1,000 people, according to the federal Department of Health and Human Services. While falling behind the overall average found by Barna, the percentage of divorced adults in Texas is as follows: Caucasian (16 percent); African American (21.9 percent); Hispanics (11.4 percent). In 2006, Texas reported a little over 3 million children living in families below the federal poverty level–just over half of these children were living with married parents.

Statistics regarding the consequences of divorce are well documented. The website of The Heritage Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based conservative think tank, posts recent studies regarding the state of the family and marriage. From national research, the foundation posted its top 10 findings regarding influencers of the quality and stability of marriage. Of special significance are its findings regarding the economic decline of divorced and cohabitating couples, especially for women and children; after divorce, household standards of living are 20 percent lower, home ownership drops by 12 percent, and household incomes are $13,000 lower.

However, the impact of divorce has reached far beyond the domestic sphere. The Family Research council estimates an average divorce costs a family $30,000. About $3.3 billion of divorce costs are picked up by the U.S. government each year. This price tag includes funds required of both federal and state governments for child support enforcement, Medicaid, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, food stamps, and public housing.

HR 2683: PROMOTING HEALTHY MARRIAGES
The declining view of matrimony and the rising costs of divorce absorbed by the state served as the cause for Warren Chisum (R-Pampa) to push House Bill 2683 through the Texas House of Representatives last year.

Among its provisions, the bill established the Healthy Marriage Development Program to provide instruction on premarital counseling (including anger resolution, family violence prevention, communication, honoring your spouse, and managing a budget); physical fitness and active lifestyles, (including sexual abstinence for un married and previously married people and nutrition on a budget); and parenting skills for character development, academic success, and stepchildren.

The bill allocates financial assistance for the courses through the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)—a federal grant for low-income families. Especially noteworthy is the bill’s promotion of marriage education services through the Health and Human Services Commission, allocating up to $50,000 for such programs.

HB 2685: PREMARITAL COUNSELING
Last September, Chisum’s House Bill 2685 was signed by Gov. Rick Perry. The bill increases the cost of marriage licenses from $30 to $60 and encourages eight hours of premarital course work prior to marriage. Of significance is the bill’s waiver of the marriage license fee and 72-hour waiting period after issuance of a marriage license for those who undergo premarital counseling.

“Divorce is what keeps many of our people in poverty,” Chisum told the New York Times shortly after introducing HB 2685. “I am trying to do something to raise people out of poverty.”

The bill stipulates that a premarital education course must include instruction in conflict management and communication skills and be completed within one year of the license application date. Premarital instructors recognized by the state include: marriage educators, clergy, licensed mental health professionals, and faith-based and community-based organizations.

HB 480: RESTORING THROUGH EDUCATION
While covenant marriage proposals go much further to ensure premarital counseling, legislation proposed by Chisum seeks to restore troubled marriages through marriage education.

HB 480 requires a respondent of a suit seeking dissolution of a marriage to submit a completion certificate for a crisis marriage education course. Exception is given to cases with evidence of family violence—whether mental, emotional, verbal or psychological abuse—based on a protective order, police record, a sworn statement by a physician, counselor, advocate in a family violence program or other medical evidence indicating that the party was a victim of family violence.

Parties are encouraged to complete the course within a 30-day period of the time when the suit is filed. Minimal instruction must address conflict management, communication and forgiveness skills taught by trained and certified instructors. Among those eligible to offer instruction are marriage educators, clergy, licensed mental health professionals, faith-based and community-based organizations. Participants are required to pay any fee charged for the course. Access will be provided to an Internet website listing individuals and organizations offering such courses.

The bill also amends the Family Code so that the court considers a wide range of the needs of children related to their age, education, financial support and care, “consistent with best interests of the child” while “taking into consideration the circumstances of the parents.”

While a covenant marriage changes both the entry and exit requirements for marriage, the enactment last year of the Healthy Marriage Development Program offers some hope of increased pre-marital education while the bill currently scheduled for public hearing addresses attempts to end a marriage.

Divorces for the tougher covenant marriage are typically granted only for the following: adultery; conviction of a felony; imprisonment for one year; abandonment for at least two years; or separation without cohabitation for at least three years—while including a caveat to protect victims of domestic violence. With no-fault divorce still in place, those standards do not apply, although Chisum hopes more thought will go into the consideration by judges and parties seeking to divorce.

He told KVUE-TV in Austin that he desires to have children raised with a mother and a father.

“We can save emotional heartache by keeping them together.” He encouraged passage of the bill, statin, “Let’s just make a little effort, put a few hours in, saying, what can we do to restore this marriage?”

The Free market Foundation says the bill has a simple and extremely important goal: keep marriages together when kids are involved.

“We know that not only is family breakdown filled with emotional costs to the adults and kids, we also know it has a staggering effect of costing Texas taxpayers $3 billion a year,” said Jonathan Saenz, director of legislative affairs for Free Market Foundation.

On the other end of the spectrum, Sen. Judith Zaffirini of Laredo introduced Senate Bill 24 to remove the 60-day waiting period for divorce decrees in cases involving assault and family violence. That bill and one similar to it (HB 72) are before committees.

To track any Texas bill visit legis.state.tx.us.