Marriage and child incentive bills look to curb divorce rate kfor
A lawmaker is proposing two laws involving marriage. One incentivizes it, the other, he says, will curb the state’s divorce rate, which ranks fifth in the country.
However, opponents say this is an example of the state overstepping its bounds.
One proposal requires couples to attend marriage counseling before they can file for divorce.
The other gives a tax credit to married couples with kids, as long as it is their biological child.
“What’s very hard about these bills is that they’re very clearly trying to set up what is a ‘good marriage’ versus a ‘less appropriate marriage,'” Shannon Fleck, Oklahoma Faith Network Director, said.
Oklahoma is considered one of the worst states when it comes to tying the knot. Nearly one out of every 100 marriages ends in divorce.
“Marriage, I think, has been degraded so much that it’s now one of the flimsiest and most trivial contracts that exist,” Sen. Dusty Deevers (R-Elgin) said. “It’s one of the very few legal contracts, that I’m aware of, that you can actually break at any time for any reason.”
For this reason, Deevers is filing two bills.
“The Covenant Marriage Act allows people to opt into a marriage that is more along the lines of what marriage is supposed to be, which is ’til death do us part,'” Deevers said.
Senate Bill 228, known as the Covenant Marriage Act, would require couples to sign a declaration of intent upon marriage.
It also makes it harder to get a divorce. Any struggle during the marriage would require counseling.
The only way a divorce would be granted is if a spouse can prove abandonment of at least a year, or abuse, or adultery.
Opponents of the bill, like Reverend Shannon Fleck, who holds a doctorate in ministry, believe this is an
example of the state overstepping its bounds.
“Couples make choices in their relationship,” Fleck said. “They journey through life together, and life is hard. The choices we make with our partner, our spouse, our family, our siblings, our friends are ours to make. The state doesn’t have a stake in marriage except for the legality pieces.”
Then there’s Senate Bill 328, the Promote Child Thriving Act. Deevers says the goal is to keep a two-parent household intact for the child’s sake.
“Where there is a marriage that’s intact, and a mother and a father in the home, the children thrive in their mental health, their emotional health, their physical health,” Deevers said.
The bill also includes an incentive:
$500 for each child under 18 living in the home of a mother and father while they’re still married;
$1,000 for each child under 18 living in the home of a mother and father who said ‘I do’ before having children.
“I think the language used in this bill that’s providing a tax credit, it keeps on saying a natural marriage, a natural marriage, we know what they mean by that,” Fleck said.
This means if there is a step parent, same sex couple, a child was adopted, or any case where a kid is not the biological child of the married couple, you are not eligible.
“It is creating bills that set up what is good versus what is not good,” Fleck said. They do that with intention because, inevitably, they will be the ones who get to decide who gets benefits, who gets legality, who gets money, and who gets resources.”
When asked specifically about this, Deevers said, “I’d have to look into it further.”
Fleck says this answer is worrisome for her for what may come.
“I think people in Oklahoma need to be mindful of bills like this because
Christian nationalism does this,” Fleck said.
The Covenant Marriage Act nearly became law back in 2013 when then Senator Josh Brecheen wrote a similar bill, but it did not pass.
Currently, three states have this distinct kind of marriage.
