[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1606 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1606

  To amend the Child Abuse and Prevention Act to require a study and 
                   report on marital age of consent.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 8, 2021

   Mr. Taylor (for himself, Mr. Morelle, and Ms. Moore of Wisconsin) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                          Education and Labor

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                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Child Abuse and Prevention Act to require a study and 
                   report on marital age of consent.

    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 ``End Forced Child Marriages Act''.

SEC. 2. STUDY AND REPORT ON MARITAL AGE OF CONSENT.

    Section 110 of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 
U.S.C. 5106f) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) Study and Report on Marital Age of Consent.--
            ``(1) Study.--The Secretary shall study, with respect to 
        each State--
                    ``(A) the State law regarding the minimum marriage 
                age; and
                    ``(B) the prevalence of marriage involving a child 
                who is under the age of such minimum marriage age.
            ``(2) Factors.--The study required under paragraph (1) 
        shall include an examination of--
                    ``(A) the extent to which any statutory exceptions 
                to the minimum marriage age in such laws contribute to 
                the prevalence of marriage involving a child described 
                in paragraph (1)(B);
                    ``(B) whether such exceptions allow such a child to 
                be married without the consent of such child; and
                    ``(C) the impact of such exceptions on the safety 
                of such children.
            ``(3) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall submit to the 
        Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the 
        Senate and the Committee on Education and Labor of the House of 
        Representatives a report containing the findings of the study 
        required by this subsection, including any best practices.''.
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