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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2015 - 2016
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 31, 2015 01:21 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Mark B. Cohen |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Repeal of DOMA |
In the near future, I plan to reintroduce HB1647 of 2013, which would repeal the Pennsylvania Defense of Marriage Act and to recognize all same sex marriages made in other states and other countries. In June 2013, the Supreme Court of the United States decided in the case of U.S. v. Windsor, that Section 3 of DOMA was unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Pennsylvania statute remains in conflict with this decision, which defines marriage as a civil contract by which one man and one woman take each other for husband and wife. My legislation would align state law with federal case law by amending Title 23 (Domestic Relations) to define marriage as a civil contract between two people who enter into matrimony. It would also recognize marriages performed legally outside this Commonwealth and outside this country. My legislation, former HB1647, could save Pennsylvania hundreds of thousands of dollars, and possibly millions of dollars, in litigation costs and retain legislative control of the marriage recognition process. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Kathy Seidl of my office at 7-4117 or kseidl@pahouse.net. Thank you. Previous co-sponsors of HB 1647 of 2013: FRANKEL, B. BOYLE, K. BOYLE, BROWNLEE, M. DALEY, KIM, KINSEY, MCCARTER, O'BRIEN, PAINTER, PARKER, ROZZI AND SCHLOSSBERG. |
Introduced as HB489