[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8638 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8638

To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct a study 
 on the effect of State laws on child marriages and forced marriages, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 20, 2020

 Ms. Moore (for herself and Mr. Taylor) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct a study 
 on the effect of State laws on child marriages and forced marriages, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Status of Child Marriages in the 
United States Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. STUDY AND REPORT ON CHILD AND FORCED MARRIAGES.

    (a) Study.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services (in this Act 
referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall conduct a study on the effect 
of State laws on child marriages and forced marriages. Such study shall 
include an evaluation of the following:
            (1) State laws with respect to the minimum age required to 
        receive a marriage license and exceptions to such minimum age 
        requirement, including in the cases of parental consent, 
        judicial approval, emancipation, and pregnancy.
            (2) The effect of legislative reforms on--
                    (A) State laws described in paragraph (1); and
                    (B) the number of child marriages in--
                            (i) each State that has enacted exceptions 
                        to such minimum age requirement; and
                            (ii) States that are adjacent to a State 
                        described in clause (i).
            (3) The difficulty of obtaining data from each State with 
        respect to child marriages.
            (4) The extent to which exceptions to the minimum age 
        requirement increase the number of child marriages that also 
        qualify as a forced marriage.
            (5) The extent to which child marriage leads to--
                    (A) domestic violence;
                    (B) dating violence;
                    (C) sexual assault; and
                    (D) sex trafficking.
    (b) Report.--Not later than 2 year after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Secretary shall complete the study under subsection (a) 
and submit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions of the Senate a report containing the findings of the study, 
including information that is disaggregated by age and gender.
    (c) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the several 
        States, the District of Columbia, each commonwealth, territory, 
        or possession of the United States, and each federally 
        recognized Indian Tribe.
            (2) Child marriage.--The term ``child marriage'' means a 
        marriage in which a party to the marriage has not attained the 
        age of 18 at the time of the marriage.
            (3) Forced marriage.--The term ``forced marriage'' means a 
        marriage that takes place without the full and free consent of 
        one or both parties and typically involves force, fraud, or 
        coercion.
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