[Congressional Bills 118th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [S. 4990 Introduced in Senate (IS)] <DOC> 118th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 4990 To comprehensively combat child marriage in the United States. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES August 1, 2024 Mr. Durbin (for himself, Mr. Schatz, and Mrs. Gillibrand) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To comprehensively combat child marriage in the United States. 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 ``Child Marriage Prevention Act of 2024''. SEC. 2. FINDINGS. Congress finds the following: (1) Over 300,000 minors were married in the United States between 2000 and 2018. Most were wed to adult men and some were as young as 10 years of age, though most were 16 or 17 years of age. (2) Child marriage limits educational opportunities. Women who marry before they turn 19 years of age are 50 percent more likely to drop out of high school and 4 times less likely to graduate from college. (3) Girls who marry in their early teens are up to 31 percent more likely to live in future poverty. (4) Child marriage has harmful consequences for mental and physical health. Women who married as children have higher rates of certain psychiatric disorders. Another study found that women who marry before 19 years of age have a 23 percent greater risk of developing a serious health condition, including diabetes, cancer, heart attack, or stroke. (5) Child marriage can facilitate physical, emotional, and verbal abuse. Girls and young women 16 to 24 years of age experience the highest rates of intimate partner violence, and girls 16 to 19 years of age experience intimate partner violence victimization rates that are almost triple the national average. Further, the majority of States allow marriage to be used as a defense to statutory rape laws, which can incentivize perpetrators to marry victims to preempt prosecutions. (6) 70 to 80 percent of marriages entered into when at least one person is under 18 years of age ultimately end in divorce. According to one study based on census data, 23 percent of children who marry are already separated or divorced by the time they turn 18 years of age. (7) Depending on the State, a child facing a forced marriage or a married minor trying to leave may find themselves with few options. A minor trying to avoid a forced marriage may not be able to leave home without being taken into custody and returned by police and may not be able to stay in a domestic violence shelter at all or in a youth shelter for longer than a few days. Friends or allies of a child escaping a marriage who offer to take them in could risk being charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor or harboring a runaway. And, if the minor attempts to obtain a home of their own, they may find no one willing to rent to them, because in many circumstances, minors cannot be held to contracts they enter. (8) Depending on the State, a minor who is being forced or coerced into marriage may not be entitled to file on their own for a protective order. Further, not all States clearly treat married minors as emancipated, meaning they still have the limited legal status and rights of a child and face similar vulnerabilities and challenges seeking help. (9) Child marriage in the United States can also be facilitated through the immigration system. Subject to rare exceptions, United States immigration law recognizes marriages as valid if they were legal where they took place and where the parties will reside. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reported that between fiscal year 2007 and fiscal year 2017, it approved 8,686 petitions for spousal or fiance visas that involved at least one minor, though it remains unclear how many of these visas were ultimately approved by the Department of State. However, approximately 2.6 percent of fiance and spousal petitions were returned unapproved to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services between fiscal year 2007 and fiscal year 2017. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that the United States issued a visa to a significant number of the spouses and fiances named on the 8,686 petitions. (10) Four States set no statutory minimum age for marriage. In 13 States and the District of Columbia, clerks acting on their own--without judges--can issue marriage licenses for all minors. Four States permit pregnancy to lower the minimum marriage age and in one State, Mississippi, the statute sets different conditions for approvals for girls and boys. (11) There is a growing movement to eliminate child marriage in the United States and 13 States--Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Rhode Island, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, Michigan, Washington, Virginia, and New Hampshire have set the minimum age for marriage at 18 years of age, with no exceptions. Since 2016, a total of 35 States have enacted new laws to end or limit child marriage with 5 more States requiring parties to be legal adults (meaning that the only exception to the requirement to be 18 years of age to be married is for certain court- emancipated minors). Until all States take action, however, the patchwork of State laws will continue to put all children, particularly girls, at risk, given the ease with which they can be taken out of their home State into another State with lax or no laws. (12) The foreign policy of the United States is already imbued with these understandings that child marriage is harmful and should be prevented, including the following: (A) The Department of State in its Foreign Affairs Manual states the Federal Government view of ``forced marriage to be a violation of basic human rights. It also considers the forced marriage of a minor child to be a form of child abuse, since the child will presumably be subjected to non-consensual sex.''. (B) The United States Agency for International Development observes that Child, Early, and Forced Marriage (In this paragraph referred to as ``CEFM'') ``impedes girls' education and increases early pregnancy and the risk of maternal mortality, obstetric complications, gender-based violence, and HIV/AIDS. Children of young mothers have higher rates of infant mortality and malnutrition compared to children of mothers older than 18. . . . CEFM is also associated with reductions in economic productivity for individuals and nations at large. CEFM is a human rights abuse and a practice that undermines efforts to promote sustainable growth and development.''. (C) Congress enacted the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (Public Law 113-4; 127 Stat. 54), which requires the Secretary of State to establish and implement a multiyear strategy-- (i) to ``prevent child marriages''; and (ii) to ``promote the empowerment of girls at risk of child marriage in developing countries''. (13) In 2021, the National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality named child marriage as a form of gender-based violence that undermines human rights globally and domestically, noting-- (A) ``Millions of women and girls remain at risk of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and child, early and forced marriage, forms of gender-based violence that undermine security and human rights, including here in the United States''; and (B) ``In the United States, we will collaborate with state officials to prevent and address harmful practices that undermine human rights, including laws that permit child, early and forced marriage . . . and ensure access to social services for those harmed.''. (14) The report titled ``U.S. National Plan to End Gender- Based Violence: Strategies for Action,'' published in May, 2023, which focuses on preventing and addressing various forms of interpersonal violence occurring within the United States, defines gender-based violence as a ``range of interpersonal violence across the life course'' including child, early, and forced marriage. SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. In this Act: (1) Noncitizen.--The term ``noncitizen'' means any person who is not a citizen or national of the United States. (2) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the several States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States. SEC. 4. FEDERAL COMMISSION TO ADDRESS CHILD MARRIAGE. (a) In General.--There is established within the Department of Health and Human Services a commission, to be known as the National Commission to Combat Child Marriage in the United States (in this section referred to as the ``Commission''), which shall-- (1) conduct a comprehensive study on child marriage in the United States, including-- (A) applicable laws, or the absence of laws, which define or prohibit child marriage; (B) the extent to which such marriages currently occur; (C) the extent to which such marriages occurred over the last 5 years in each State; (D) the circumstances in which such marriages take place (including risk factors that may have played a role in such marriages taking place); and (E) the impact of such marriages on the individuals who were married before turning 18 years of age; (2) build upon the evaluations of other entities and avoid unnecessary duplication, by reviewing the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of other commissions, the Federal Government, State and local governments, State task forces, and nongovernmental entities relating to child marriage in the United States; (3) submit a report on specific findings, conclusions, and recommendations to eliminate child marriage in the United States to-- (A) the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate; (B) the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives; and (C) the Secretary of Health and Human Services; and (4) carry out other duties as described in subsection (c). (b) Composition of Commission.-- (1) Members.--The Commission shall be composed of 10 members, of whom-- (A) 1 member shall be appointed by the President; (B) 1 member, who is of a different political party than that of the member appointed under paragraph (1), shall be appointed by the President; (C) 4 members shall be appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services; (D) 1 member shall be appointed by the majority leader of the Senate; (E) 1 member shall be appointed by the minority leader of the Senate; (F) 1 member shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives; and (G) 1 member shall be appointed by the minority leader of the House of Representatives. (2) Governmental appointees.--An individual appointed to the Commission may not be an officer or employee of the Federal Government. (3) Commission representation.--The Commission shall include at least-- (A) 1 survivor of child marriage; (B) 1 representative from a private nonprofit entity with demonstrated expertise in working with survivors of child marriage in the United States; (C) 1 representative from a private nonprofit entity with demonstrated expertise in working with immigrant survivors of child marriage in the United States; and (D) 1 representative from a private nonprofit entity with demonstrated expertise in working with State governments to limit child marriage. (4) Qualifications.--Members appointed under paragraph (1) shall have demonstrated experience or expertise in-- (A) providing services to survivors of child marriage in the United States; (B) providing services to immigrant survivors of child marriage in the United States; (C) working with State governments to limit child marriage; (D) the medical challenges that survivors of child marriage face; (E) the mental health challenges that survivors of child marriage face; (F) legal issues involving individuals who were married or sought to marry before becoming 18 years of age; (G) conducting research on the impact of child marriage on individuals who were married before becoming 18 years of age; (H) risk factors that play a role in child marriage; or (I) issues of forced or coerced marriage, family violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, or child abuse. (5) Initial meeting.--Not later than 120 days after the appointment of members of the Commission, the Commission shall-- (A) hold an initial meeting, at which the members shall elect a Chairperson and Vice Chairperson, who shall be of different political parties, from among such members and shall determine a schedule of Commission meetings; and (B) begin the operations of the Commission. (6) Quorum and vacancy.-- (A) Quorum.--A majority of the members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum, but a lesser number of members may hold hearings. (B) Vacancy.--Any vacancy in the Commission shall not affect its powers and shall be filled in the same manner in which the original appointment was made. (c) Duties of the Commission.--The Commission shall-- (1) conduct pursuant to subsection (a) a comprehensive study that examines and assesses the adequacy of laws addressing child marriage, the extent of child marriage across the country, risk factors that play a role in child marriage, and the impact of child marriage on those individuals in the United States who marry before becoming 18 years of age, including making specific findings relating to-- (A) threats to such individuals' safety and well- being, including-- (i) physical and mental health, economic, and educational impacts; (ii) forced or coerced marriage; (iii) family violence; (iv) vulnerability to abuse and exploitation; (v) sexual assault; (vi) child abuse and neglect; and (vii) human trafficking; (B) barriers to and gaps in services for minors facing the threat of forced marriage or already married minors seeking protection from abuse; (C) Federal laws, regulations, policies, and programs relevant to child marriage and individuals who marry before becoming 18 years of age; and (D) based on a survey of such laws, State laws defining or prohibiting child marriage, including lessons learned from States that have, or that lack, laws, regulations, and policies to limit child marriage; and (2) submit to the President, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Congress a report on the specific findings, conclusions, and recommendations to address and ultimately eliminate child marriage in the United States and improve services and outcomes for survivors of child marriage in the United States, including specific recommendations on policies, regulations, and legislative changes as the Commission considers appropriate to address child marriage in the United States. (d) Powers of the Commission.-- (1) Hearings.--The Commission may hold such hearings, meet and act at such times and places, and receive such evidence as may be necessary to carry out the functions of the Commission. (2) Information from federal agencies.-- (A) In general.--The Commission may access, to the extent authorized by law, from any executive department, bureau, agency, board, commission, office, independent establishment, or instrumentality of the Federal Government such information, suggestions, estimates, and statistics as the Commission considers necessary to carry out this section. (B) Provision of information.--On written request of the Chairperson of the Commission, each department,