URGENT - Calling on Colorado to take action - 4/18/08

[Smartmarriages]

Colorado, you must stop this outrageous proposal.  We need someone in
Colorado to take this on and lead this fight.

All laws send a message and this proposed legislation sends a highly
inaccurate, misleading and unfortunate message – one that links implies that
marriage is linked to or contributes to child abuse when, in actuality,
marriage PREVENTS child abuse. It's the kids that do NOT live with their two
married bio parents that are at increased risk of physical, emotional and
sexual abuse –  not the children living in intact families.

Who will organize a campaign to stop this - organize a letter writing
campaign to editors, TV shows, legislators. Call TV and talk radio and offer
your expertise and sound the alarm.
 
Propose that instead, Colorado follow the lead of states like Florida,
Minnesota, Tennessee, Oklahoma and increase the marriage license fee and
then give a reduction to couples that take a Marriage Education class.  Help
send the message that couples can do something to strengthen their marriage
and reduce family breakdown which will reduce and prevent child abuse,
domestic violence, costs to taxpayers, etc. etc.

Encourage Colorado legislators to go further - not just implement what other
states have done but improve on it.

Let me know if you get this organized and I'll notify the list to contact
you.  

- diane 

> Lawmaker Wants To Increase Marriage License Fee
> Revenue Would Go To Pay For Child Abuse Advocates
> Reporting
> Terry Jessup
> April 18, 2008 

> DENVER (CBS4) ? One state lawmaker is proposing to raise the fee for a
> marriage license in Colorado from $10 to $35 to pay for a program that pays
> for court-appointed child abuse advocates.
> 
> "This will raise about $900,000," said state Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado
> Springs. "There's a little over 35,000 marriage licenses issued every year."
> 
> Morse linked the two because marriages often produce children.
> 
> "Fees in Colorado have to be constitutionally tied to the purpose of their
> program," said state Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma. "What this bill says basically
> is that marriage results in children, children will be abused, and they will
> end up in court, and again, that is an absolutely abhorrent idea."
> 
> Morse also rebuked claims that increasing the fee was a tax by suggesting
> couple's who didn't want to pay could just live together in common law
> marriage.
> 
> "Common law marriage won't be subject to the fee because they never get a
> marriage license, so there is a mechanism if people choose to avoid the fee,"
> he said. "And that was in response to the argument that it was a tax, because
> taxes can never be avoided."
> 
> "That's a horrible way to approach building families in Colorado," said
> Gardner. "It's something that we should not accept as policymakers."
> 
> Lawmakers said Colorado's current $10 fee is second cheapest in the nation.
> The average is about $35 and the highest fee is $93.
> 
> Morse's bill is set for a final vote in the state Senate where it is expected
> to pass before moving on to the House for consideration.
> 
> (© MMVIII CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may
> not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)


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