00                            HOUSE BILL NO. 316                                                                          
01 "An Act relating to marriage solemnization; and authorizing elected public officials in                                 
02 the state to solemnize marriages."                                                                                      
03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                                
04    * Section 1. AS 25.05.261(a) is amended to read:                                                                   
05            (a)  Marriages may be solemnized                                                                             
06                 (1)  by a minister, priest, or rabbi of any church or congregation in the                               
07       state, or by a commissioned officer of the Salvation Army, or by the principal officer                            
08       or elder of recognized churches or congregations that traditionally do not have regular                           
09       ministers, priests, or rabbis, anywhere within the state;                                                         
10                 (2)  by a marriage commissioner or judicial officer of the state                                        
11       anywhere within the jurisdiction of the commissioner or officer; [OR]                                             
12                 (3)  before or in any religious organization or congregation according to                               
13       the established ritual or form commonly practiced in the organization or congregation;                        
14       or                                                                                                            
15                 (4)  by an individual holding an elective public office in the state.                             

01    * Sec. 2. AS 25.05.281 is amended to read:                                                                         
02            Sec. 25.05.281. Marriage solemnized by unauthorized person. After a                                        
03       license has been obtained, a marriage solemnized before a person professing to be a                               
04       minister, priest, or rabbi of a church or congregation in the state, [OR] a judicial                          
05       officer, a [OR] marriage commissioner, or an individual holding an elective public                        
06       office in the state is valid regardless of a lack of power or authority in the person, if                     
07       the marriage is consummated with a belief on the part of the persons so married, or                               
08       either of them, that they have been lawfully joined in marriage.