Lawmaker takes aim at polygamist sect
 House provision would strengthen marriage restrictions
 
By Karen Brooks
The Dallas Morning News
 
AUSTIN – A lawmaker bent on reining in a polygamist sect in West Texas pushed a provision through the House this week to tighten restrictions on marriages and give the state broader powers in investigating child abuse.

An amendment tacked onto the massive overhaul of the state's protective services this week targets members of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-day Saints who moved from Utah and Arizona onto a ranch outside Eldorado more than a year ago.

The legislation passed with no floor debate or opposition. It still must pass the Senate.

The sponsor, Rep. Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville, had filed a separate bill with support from Eldorado and Schleicher County officials and the Utah attorney general.

The church was originally part of the mainstream Mormon church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but broke away in the 1800s after the Mormons denounced plural marriage.

Attorneys for the sect have said the group has done nothing wrong and is being persecuted for its religious convictions.

The bill clarifies that the state attorney general can make an allegation of child abuse or neglect to state investigators without going through local law enforcement channels.

The legislation also raises the age of consent for marriage from 14 to 16 and prohibits stepparents from marrying their stepchildren.

E-mail kmbrooks@dallasnews.com
 
WFAA.com
Originally published Thursday, April 21, 2005
 
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