JPus: Increase Marriage Age in MA
Consistent with our membership’s position on child marriage, the Justice of the Peace Association joined forces with the MA Coalition to End Child Marriage to raise the minimum age to wed. JPus submitted written testimony to the state’s Joint Commission on Children, Families and Person with Disabilities explaining why the organization supports S24, an Act to End Child Marriage. Read more.
NH JPs sign onto JPus Testimony
Today 29 New Hampshire justices of the peace endorsed the Justice of the Peace Association’s statement opposing HB 295. The bill would establish a special marriage officiant license, allowing temporary officiants. JPus’ Loretta Jay submitted the statement and testified before the state’s House Ways and Means Committee, Read more here.
2019 MA Legislation
Four bills are pending before the Massachusetts General Court of the Commonwealth that are important to JPs. If you want changes to the One-Day rule, or would like an increase in the fees you may charge to couples, your state Representatives and Senators need to hear from you!
SD2216: establishes a commission study to evaluate the One-Day rule
- SD 941 increases application fees for 1-Dayers (Gobi)
- SD 943 broadens JP’s advertising to include in “any public media” (Gobi)
- SD 659 increases the fees that JPs may charge to $120 in-town, and $180 for out-of-town ceremonies (DiDomenico).
Read more about these bills and learn more about what you can do to make them become law.
Letter: End child marriage in NH
When JPus learned about New Hampshire’s pending legislation (House Bill 378) which would end child marriage in the state, we got involved. Our membership made it clear that they do not want to officiate a marriage involving a minor child – so it is important that the legislature hears from us. On January 17, 2019 we submitted written testimony to the House’s Child and Family Law Committee.
findaJP.com is now on Instagram
A large part of our mission is to connect ‘Couples who Click’ with JPus members. To reach even more couples, findaJP.com has joined the 800+ million active users on Instagram. Among the billions of images posted on Instagram, over 111 million wedding photos have been shared with its users. We look forward to contributing to this collection with our own images that highlight the many happy unions our members officiate. We’d love to share your photos and stories too.