Why It’s Important for Legislators to Actually Read the Legislation They’re Passing

Before I get back to work, I thought I’d share this story from the newswires:

A law passed this year allows Arkansans of any age — even infants — to marry if their parents agree, and the governor may have to call a special session to fix the mistake, lawmakers said Friday.

The legislation was intended to establish 18 as the minimum age to marry but also allow pregnant teenagers to marry with parental consent, bill sponsor Rep. Will Bond said. An extraneous “not” in the bill, however, allows anyone who is not pregnant to marry at any age if the parents allow it.[...]

The bill reads: “In order for a person who is younger than eighteen (18) years of age and who is not pregnant to obtain a marriage license, the person must provide the county clerk with evidence of parental consent to the marriage.”[...]

The Legislature formally adjourned its session in May and is not scheduled to meet again until January 2009, unless Gov. Mike Beebe calls a special session. Beebe said he wanted to look at all options for correcting the error before deciding whether to call a special session.

The article mentions that some Arkansans are concerned about a flood of pedophiles bringing their child-brides to the state to get hitched.

This would be a story to clip for the archives, to have on hand the next time your legislator says something to the effect of, “you don’t actually expect us to read the bills we’re voting on”.