Lawmakers promote covenant marriage legislation

<br>OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Lawmakers were urged Thursday by Gov. Frank Keating to consider legislation that would allow couples to enter into agreements that would make divorce harder and require counseling

Friday, March 29th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Lawmakers were urged Thursday by Gov. Frank Keating to consider legislation that would allow couples to enter into agreements that would make divorce harder and require counseling before marriage.

``This is one of the most important pieces of legislation to come before the Legislature in a long time,'' Keating said.

He wants the Senate Judiciary Committee to schedule a hearing for a covenant marriage bill that has already been passed by the House. It could come before the committee on Tuesday. A similar bill died in the Senate earlier this year.

``Oklahoma has one of the highest divorce rates in the nation,'' said Sen. Owen Laughlin, R-Woodward, the measure's co-author. Laughlin said the bill, similar to laws in Louisiana and Arizona, would help keep troubled marriages together.

``It's a lifetime commitment,'' Laughlin said.

Oklahoma has 6.7 divorces per 1,000 residents per year, compared with a national rate of 4.6, according to a government study cited by the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative.

The measure would allow couples to voluntarily enter into covenant marriage contracts that would require counseling at least 15 days before they applied for a marriage license.

The bill also narrows grounds for divorce to adultery, physical abuse, abandonment, fraud and living apart for 18 months.

Existing marriage laws allow 12 grounds for divorce and permit childless couples to get a divorce just 10 days after a petition is filed, said the measure's author, Rep. Ray Vaughn, R-Edmond. Couples with children can get a divorce 90 days after they file.

``It's an effort to slow the process down,'' said Vaughn, an attorney who practices family law. ``I'm anxious to add this to our body of law.''

Opponents have argued that the measure would keep couples in abusive or destructive marriages. Keating said Laughlin has agreed to amend it to permit couples to remove themselves from bad marriages in private, confidential proceedings.

Other covenant marriage bills have not survived the legislative process.

A bill by Laughlin died earlier this year when the Senate Judiciary Committee refused to hear it. The committee's chairman, Sen. Brad Henry, D-Shawnee, said the bill was an example of excessive government intrusion into the lives of private citizens.

Keating criticized the action and described Henry as ``anti-family, anti-progress.'' Henry has announced he will run for governor this year.