- Apr 29, 2005
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In doing some research on this idiot, I found that he as also proposed anti-gay legislation, forwarded memos calling "evolution science" a Jewish conspiracy, introduced bill making Bible as Literature class a mandatory elective (which isn't all that bad until you see his answer when asked if students want to have a Koran as literature class also).
Now, he comes to plate swinging for the fences.
Source
Now, he comes to plate swinging for the fences.
Source
Texans would have to wait two years to get a divorce ? unless they take a class designed to save their marriage ? under a proposal a key state lawmaker says he plans to revive.
State Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, sought to get a similar measure passed in 2007. He said he's planning to bring it back as one of his priorities for the legislative session that begins in January.
"The deal is, we need to take marriage more seriously," said Chisum, who in October will celebrate his 51st wedding anniversary.
It now takes at least 60 days to finalize a divorce in Texas. Across the country, waiting periods range from 30 days in Alabama to up to two years in Maryland, if one spouse contests the divorce, according to Mike McManus, president of Marriage Savers, a group that works with communities to start marriage education programs.
The Texas proposal died last year in a House committee, but the Legislature passed another marriage-related proposal by Chisum.
House Bill 2685, which goes into effect Sept. 1, doubles the $30 marriage license fee to $60 ? but couples can bypass the fee by taking an eight-hour premarital class.
The state will pay for the classes and maintain an online registry using $8 million a year in federal dollars from the Temporary Assistance For Needy Families program.
Both measures stem from a Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute effort to chip away at no-fault divorce, said Chisum, who is president of the institute's board of directors. Like most states, Texas does not require a spouse to prove the other is to blame in order to get a divorce.
"We're going to attack it at both ends ? marriage and divorce ? in an effort to keep families together," Chisum said. "If this just saves one marriage, it'll be fine with me."
The fate of Chisum's proposal depends on whom House members elect as their speaker. The speaker picks committee chairs and decides which bills go to which committee. All that will depend on which House candidates voters elect in November. Even if the House were to approve the bill, it would have to survive the Senate.
Chisum's divorce proposal calls for 10 hours of coursework within a 48-hour period. Some opponents say there's nothing wrong with classes for struggling marriages, but that the state shouldn't be involved.
"I don't think it's the government's job to force people to stay unhappily married," said state Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, a member of the House Committee on State Affairs, which considered the marriage and divorce bills last year. Farrar said a few hours of classes wouldn't do enough to address the needs of a troubled marriage.
But Erin Kincaid, a volunteer with the nonprofit Alliance for North Texas Healthy Effective Marriages, which gives workshops on relationships, said she knows personally that such programs work.
A decade ago, Kincaid was a newlywed working with her husband, Will, as a missionary in Germany when their marriage began to unravel to the point where, she said, "we hated each other's guts."
She said she flew to Texas intending to file for divorce, but a minister convinced her to take marriage classes. Her husband came to Texas, they took a 16-hour marriage workshop and two weeks later they'd called off the divorce and were flying back to Germany, she said.
Now, the Kincaids live in the Dallas area.
"If you need to be divorced, we are not advocating marriage at all costs," Kincaid said. "But we want people to have more than just divorce as an option."
About 79,500 divorces were granted in Texas in 2006 and more than 178,800 couples got married that year, according to data from the Department of State Health Services.
Divorce and out-of-wedlock childbearing costs Texas taxpayers nearly $3 billion a year in spending on anti-poverty and criminal justice programs, according to a recent national study by a Georgia College & State University economist. It was commissioned by several groups that have called for government efforts to strengthen marriages.
"The family breakdown is having a tremendous impact in every way," said Jonathan Saenz of the Free Market Foundation, a Christian nonprofit group dedicated to strengthening families.
Chisum's proposal would allow victims of domestic violence to get a divorce after 60 days.
Sheryl Cates, CEO of the Texas Council on Family Violence, said: "Obviously, we're always concerned about anything that would stand in the way of a battered woman ? or a battered man ? to get out of a violent situation."
A two-year waiting period could also have a financial impact ? affecting how investments and other assets get divided in a divorce, said JoAl Cannon Sheridan, an Austin family law attorney.
Meanwhile, the state has selected organizations to coordinate the new marriage program, including Lutheran Social Services of the South, Inc., which is responsible for a 30-county area in Central Texas. Patricia Polega of the social services group said her staff has been telling engaged couples about the program at bridal shows and other events.
The message hadn't reached Jenny Schovajsa, 25, and Jeremy Janda, 28, of La Grange, who are in the midst of premarital counseling with a pastor in preparation for their October wedding. Their sessions won't get them out of the marriage license fee ? only classes taken after Sept. 1 and approved by the state will count ? but Schovajsa said they'd be willing to consider taking a class if it's convenient.
"I think a lot of people are embarrassed by marriage counseling," she said. "Jeremy and I love it. We've always said we're going to get married once and we're going to do it right and give 110 percent."
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