Friday, December 6, 2002

A story released today by the Associated Press reports that Florida Governor Jeb Bush said his goal to strengthen families during his second term includes marriage reform as a way to combat the state's high divorce rate.

"Strengthening families may mean looking at our divorce rate, which is over 60 percent," Bush said.

House Speaker Johnnie Byrd is critical of Florida's no-fault divorce law and thinks the Legislature should look at the problem, but Bush said marriage needs to be addressed before couples wed and he does not want to make it more difficult for couples to get divorced.

Bush said any reform should ensure that "the institution of marriage is held up high as something that is so important that when people make that decision they understand the responsibilities."

"For most people, they're going to have to pay to have those hours of premarital counseling," said Larry Barlow, a Tallahassee marriage counselor. "It's probably going to cost them more. I suspect that the people who had planned to do premarital education would do it anyway and those who didn't would probably pay the extra cost" for the license.

He added that the state should be interested in doing more to lower the divorce rate.

"Given that the state does regulate marriage and divorce, then I don't have any qualms about them wanting to have a hand in making it work."said Larry Barlow a Tallahassee marriage counselor. "In the long run it not only is good for families, but it's good for the economy. We do know that there are correlations between single-mom households and greater poverty for children."

Bush said he doesn't know if new laws are needed, but that he would use his office to promote healthy marriages.

"Being governor also relates to being in public life and trying to use the bully pulpit to advance causes that go beyond government," he said.