Governor Rick Perry signs SB 6 into law
 
The Eldorado Success
Texas Governor Rick Perry signed Senate Bill 6 into law Tuesday.

Texas Governor Rick Perry signed Senate Bill 6 into law Tuesday. The bill beefs up the state’s child protective services agency and strengthens Texas marriage laws.

Texas Governor Rick Perry signed Senate Bill 6 into law Tuesday, June 7, 2005, ending a months’ long battle to bolster the state’s child protective service agency. The bill, sponsored by State Senator Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound) and State Representative Suzanna Hupp (R-Lampasas), carried an amendment authored by Rep. Harvey Hilderbran (R-Kerrville) that elevated bigamy and polygamy from a misdemeanor to a felony and raised the state’s age of consent from 14 to 16.

Hilderbran first offered the legislation as House Bill 3006 and rallied to get it through the House Juvenile Justice Committee where Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and Jon Krakauer, author of "Under the Banner of Heaven" testified on behalf of the bill. Private Investigator Sam Brower of Cedar City, Utah and Randy Mankin, publisher of The Eldorado Success also testified in favor of HB 3006.

Despite receiving unanimous committee support, Hilderbran’s bill died on the House calendar as the deadline for new bills expired before it could be called for a vote.

"I felt that HB 3006 might not get through this session," Hilderbran stated recently. "So I looked for a bill to amend and Senate Bill 6 was an obvious choice."

Hilderbran’s amendment, containing almost all of the pertinent language from HB 3006, was the 50th amendment made to SB 6 once it reached the House floor. There would be a total of 64 House amendments before it was all said and done.

But Hilderbran’s amendment would be one of the few that made it off the floor and through the House/Senate conference committee before SB 6 got its final vote in both chambers on May 29, 2005.

Governor Rick Perry weighed in on the final negotiations, helping to hammer out a compromise with House/Senate conferees.

The governor’s signature means the bill will go into effect on September 1, 2005.

Read the final version of   Texas State Bill No. 6
 
MyEldorado.net
Originally published June 9, 2005
 
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