Proposed California Legislation
Legislation of all sorts, as usual, is creeping into our various legislatures for the new year. For instance, one of the bills before the legislature in Sacramento is that marriages can only be performed by a justice of the Supreme Court, a justice of the District Court of Appeals, a superior judge, a priest, or a minister; that no girl less than sixteen years old, or man less than eighteen, can marry, even with the consent of their parents. All common-law marriages are forbidden by the bill, and all marriage licenses are illegal unless accompanied with a certificate that neither party is afflicted with infectious diseases, including tuberculosis. Another bill before the legislature is to exempt all colleges in California from taxation. This is an amendment to the Constitution. Property to be exempted includes the buildings, equipments, and grounds not to exceed 160 acres, the bonds and securities. Still another is for the abolition of the death penalty, and the substitution of life imprisonment, with one day each year in solitary confinement, the anniversary of the person's crime.