Bill Tracker: HB 2683 – State Sponsored Marriage Counseling

HB 2683 made it out of committee and passed in the House. The unofficial record vote was 72 – 68. The bill has five authors and numerous coauthors.

The bill analysis indicates that this bill will require the state to spend money on marriage counseling. The bill analysis further states that “TANF clients often have challenges that other populations do not have, and it is possible that many of these clients have not had these appropriate behaviors modeled for them. The figures correlating poverty and marital status illustrate how the cycle of poverty may continue if a person has not had experience in a family held together by a strong marriage.” TANF is short for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. It is not an acronym for "live my life for me and appropriately model behavior for me."

People of every walk of life get divorced. It is incredibly arrogant to assume that a TANF client needs marriage counseling when the divorce rate is consistent across almost every conceivable variable — wealth, education, geographic location, etc. It is unbelievable that legislation has been fashioned based on those statements in the bill analysis.

Laissez-faire can be a good word. “Keep out” can be a good phrase.

Why did 68 House members vote against this bill?