STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2901
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 1, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. LEVENBERG -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Judiciary
AN ACT to amend the domestic relations law, in relation to designating
lay individuals to solemnize marriages; and to repeal certain
provisions of the executive law related thereto
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivisions 1, 2, 3-a and 3-b of section 11 of the domes-
2 tic relations law, subdivisions 1, 2 and 3-a as amended and subdivision
3 3-b as added by a chapter of the laws of 2022 amending the domestic
4 relations law and the executive law relating to designating lay individ-
5 uals to solemnize marriages, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S.
6 739-A and A. 6300-A, are amended to read as follows:
7 1. A clergyman or minister of any religion, or by the senior leader,
8 or any of the other leaders, of The Society for Ethical Culture in the
9 city of New York, having its principal office in the borough of Manhat-
10 tan, or by the leader of The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture,
11 having its principal office in the borough of Brooklyn of the city of
12 New York, or of the Westchester Ethical Society, having its principal
13 office in Westchester county, or of the Ethical Culture Society of Long
14 Island, having its principal office in Nassau county, or of the River-
15 dale-Yonkers Ethical Society having its principal office in Bronx coun-
16 ty, or by the leader of any other Ethical Culture Society affiliated
17 with the American Ethical Union; provided that no clergyman or minister
18 as defined in section two of the religious corporations law, or Society
19 for Ethical Culture leader shall be required to solemnize any marriage
20 when acting in his or her capacity under this subdivision.
21 1-a. A refusal by a clergyman or minister as defined in section two of
22 the religious corporations law, or Society for Ethical Culture leader to
23 solemnize any marriage under this subdivision shall not create a civil
24 claim or cause of action or result in any state or local government
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03960-01-3
A. 2901 2
1 action to penalize, withhold benefits or discriminate against such cler-
2 gyman or minister[; or,].
3 2. The current or a former governor, a mayor of a village, a county
4 executive of a county, or a mayor, recorder, city magistrate, police
5 justice or police magistrate of a city, a former mayor or the city clerk
6 of a city of the first class of over one million inhabitants or any of
7 his or her deputies or not more than four regular clerks, designated by
8 him or her for such purpose as provided in section eleven-a of this
9 article, except that in cities which contain more than one hundred thou-
10 sand and less than one million inhabitants, a marriage shall be solem-
11 nized by the mayor, or police justice, and by no other officer of such
12 city, except as provided in subdivisions one and three of this section[;
13 or,].
14 3-a. A judge or peacemaker judge of any Indian tribal court, a chief,
15 a headman, or any member of any tribal council or other governing body
16 of any nation, tribe or band of Indians in this state duly designated by
17 such body for the purpose of officiating at marriages, or any other
18 persons duly designated by such body, in keeping with the culture and
19 traditions of any such nation, tribe or band of Indians in this state,
20 to officiate at marriages[; or,].
21 3-b. A one-day marriage officiant, as designated by [the secretary of
22 state pursuant to section one hundred ten of the executive law] a town
23 or city clerk pursuant to section eleven-d of this article; or,
24 § 2. Section 12 of the domestic relations law, as amended by a chapter
25 of the laws of 2022 amending the domestic relations law and the execu-
26 tive law relating to designating lay individuals to solemnize marriages,
27 as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 739-A and A. 6300-A, is
28 amended to read as follows:
29 § 12. Marriage, how solemnized. No particular form or ceremony is
30 required when a marriage is solemnized as herein provided by a clergy-
31 man[,] or magistrate, or one-day marriage officiant as designated by
32 [the secretary of state pursuant to section one hundred ten of the exec-
33 utive law] a town or city clerk pursuant to section eleven-d of this
34 article, but the parties must solemnly declare in the presence of a
35 clergyman, magistrate, or such one-day marriage officiant and the
36 attending witness or witnesses that they take each other as spouses. In
37 every case, at least one witness beside the clergyman, magistrate, or
38 such one-day marriage officiant must be present at the ceremony.
39 The preceding provisions of this chapter, so far as they relate to the
40 manner of solemnizing marriages, shall not affect marriages among the
41 people called friends or quakers; nor marriages among the people of any
42 other denominations having as such any particular mode of solemnizing
43 marriages; but such marriages must be solemnized in the manner hereto-
44 fore used and practiced in their respective societies or denominations,
45 and marriages so solemnized shall be as valid as if this article had not
46 been enacted.
47 § 3. Section 13 of the domestic relations law, as amended by a chapter
48 of the laws of 2022 amending the domestic relations law and the execu-
49 tive law relating to designating lay individuals to solemnize marriages,
50 as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 739-A and A. 6300-A, is
51 amended to read as follows:
52 § 13. Marriage licenses. It shall be necessary for all persons
53 intended to be married in New York state to obtain a marriage license
54 from a town or city clerk in New York state and to deliver said license,
55 within sixty days, to the clergyman, magistrate, or one-day marriage
56 officiant as designated by [the secretary of state pursuant to section
A. 2901 3
1 one hundred ten of the executive law] a town or city clerk pursuant to
2 section eleven-d of this article who is to officiate before the marriage
3 ceremony may be performed. In case of a marriage contracted pursuant to
4 subdivision four of section eleven of this chapter, such license shall
5 be delivered to the judge of the court of record before whom the
6 acknowledgment is to be taken. If either party to the marriage resides
7 upon an island located not less than twenty-five miles from the office
8 or residence of the town clerk of the town of which such island is a
9 part, and if such office or residence is not on such island such license
10 may be obtained from any justice of the peace residing on such island,
11 and such justice, in respect to powers and duties relating to marriage
12 licenses, shall be subject to the provisions of this article governing
13 town clerks and shall file all statements or affidavits received by him
14 while acting under the provisions of this section with the town clerk of
15 such town. No application for a marriage license shall be denied on the
16 ground that the parties are of the same, or a different, sex.
17 § 4. Section 13-b of the domestic relations law, as amended by a chap-
18 ter of the laws of 2022 amending the domestic relations law and the
19 executive law relating to designating lay individuals to solemnize
20 marriages, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 739-A and A.
21 6300-A, is amended to read as follows:
22 § 13-b. Time within which marriage may be solemnized. A marriage shall
23 not be solemnized within twenty-four hours after the issuance of the
24 marriage license, unless authorized by an order of a court of record as
25 hereinafter provided, nor shall it be solemnized after sixty days from
26 the date of the issuance of the marriage license unless authorized
27 pursuant to section three hundred fifty-four-d of the executive law.
28 Every license to marry hereafter issued by a town or city clerk, in
29 addition to other requirements specified by this chapter, must contain a
30 statement of the day and the hour the license is issued and the period
31 during which the marriage may be solemnized. It shall be the duty of the
32 clergyman, magistrate, or one-day marriage officiant, as designated by
33 [the secretary of state pursuant to section one hundred ten of the
34 executive law] a town or city clerk pursuant to section eleven-d of this
35 article, performing the marriage ceremony, or if the marriage is solem-
36 nized by written contract, of the judge before whom the contract is
37 acknowledged, to annex to or endorse upon the marriage license the date
38 and hour the marriage is solemnized. A judge or justice of the supreme
39 court of this state or the county judge of the county in which either
40 party to be married resides, or the judge of the family court of such
41 county, if it shall appear from an examination of the license and any
42 other proofs submitted by the parties that one of the parties is in
43 danger of imminent death, or by reason of other emergency public inter-
44 est will be promoted thereby, or that such delay will work irreparable
45 injury or great hardship upon the contracting parties, or one of them,
46 may, make an order authorizing the immediate solemnization of the
47 marriage and upon filing such order with the clergyman, magistrate, or
48 one-day marriage officiant performing the marriage ceremony, or if the
49 marriage is to be solemnized by written contract, with the judge before
50 whom the contract is acknowledged, such clergyman, magistrate or such
51 one-day marriage officiant may solemnize such marriage, or such judge
52 may take such acknowledgment as the case may be, without waiting for
53 such three day period and twenty-four hour period to elapse. The clergy-
54 man, magistrate, judge, or such one-day marriage officiant, as desig-
55 nated by [the secretary of state pursuant to section one hundred ten of
56 the executive law] a town or city clerk pursuant to section eleven-d of
A. 2901 4
1 this article, must file such order with the town or city clerk who
2 issued the license within five days after the marriage is solemnized.
3 Such town or city clerk must record and index the order in the book
4 required to be kept by him or her for recording affidavits, statements,
5 consents and licenses, and when so recorded the order shall become a
6 public record and available in any prosecution under this section. A
7 person who shall solemnize a marriage in violation of this section shall
8 be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished
9 by a fine of fifty dollars for each offense, and in addition thereto,
10 his or her right to solemnize a marriage shall be suspended for ninety
11 days.
12 § 5. Section 110 of the executive law, as added by a chapter of the
13 laws of 2022 amending the domestic relations law and the executive law
14 relating to designating lay individuals to solemnize marriages, as
15 proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 739-A and A. 6300-A, is
16 REPEALED.
17 § 6. The domestic relations law is amended by adding a new section
18 11-d to read as follows:
19 § 11-d. One-day marriage officiant license. 1. A town or city clerk
20 shall issue a one-day marriage officiant license upon request. Such
21 one-day marriage officiant shall have the authority to solemnize a
22 marriage which marriage shall be valid if performed in accordance with
23 other provisions of law. Nothing herein contained shall nullify the
24 authority of other persons authorized to solemnize marriages.
25 2. Such one-day marriage officiant shall be eighteen years of age or
26 over and need not be a resident of the town or city to which they apply
27 or a resident of the state. A one-day marriage officiant shall have the
28 authority to solemnize a marriage anywhere in the state.
29 3. An applicant for a one-day marriage officiant license must apply
30 for such license in the same town or city clerk's office as the couple
31 to be married. Such applicant shall not be required to personally
32 appear.
33 4. A town or city clerk shall be entitled to a fee of twenty-five
34 dollars for issuing a one-day marriage officiant license. Such license
35 shall be issued only after payment of such fee and submission of a
36 completed application form.
37 5. The application form shall require the following information of the
38 applicant: name, date of birth, address, email address and telephone
39 number. The application form shall also require the following informa-
40 tion of the parties to be married: names, dates of birth, and addresses
41 as they appear on the application for a marriage license.
42 6. Such license shall only be valid for the parties to be married as
43 stated on the application and shall expire upon the earlier of either
44 completion of such solemnization or the expiration of the marriage
45 license.
46 7. One-day marriage officiants shall be exempt from registration as
47 required pursuant to section eleven-b of this article.
48 § 7. This act shall take effect on the same date and in the same
49 manner as a chapter of the laws of 2022 amending the domestic relations
50 law and the executive law relating to designating lay individuals to
51 solemnize marriages, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 739-A
52 and A. 6300-A, takes effect.
