Jefferson City, MO. – Two bills are currently in committee in the Missouri Senate to raise the legal age at which someone can get married in Missouri. These bills will be heard by the Judiciary and Civil & Criminal Jurisprudence Committee.
Senate Bill 767 and Senate Bill 1342 are identical in content but each is put forth by members of different political parties, Republican Senator Holly Thompson-Rehder of Scott City and Democrat Senator Lauren Arthur of Kansas City.
Sen. Thompson-Rehder spoke on her experience with the current law:
Currently, no marriage license is to be issued to anyone under 16, with exceptions. These bills would make it so that no one under the age of 18 would be issued a marriage license in the state.
The Committee has not taken action yet on either of these bills.
