Information Alert: Marriage Commission seeks information

Victoria Cobb, President
Friday, September 21, 2007

The Family Foundation of Virginia's Marriage Commission yesterday sent a letter to the State Health Commissioner inquiring about data collection required by state law. The commission is studying the issues of marriage and divorce in Virginia and is seeking public policy solutions to Virginia's high divorce rate.

The Family Foundation's Marriage Commission met for the second time last Thursday, September 13, and reviewed several proposals. A third meeting is scheduled for late October for the commission to continue its review of policy ideas.

According to section 32.1-268.1 of the Virginia Code, the state Registrar is required to "compile, publish, and make available to the public aggregate data on the number of marriages, divorces, and annulments from the year 2000 forward that occurred in the Commonwealth. The data shall be organized according to the locality in which the marriage license is issued or in which the divorce or annulment report is certified, and shall include but not be limited to information regarding the age and race of the parties. In addition, the data on divorces and annulments shall include information regarding the number of minor children involved. The State Registrar shall post, update, and maintain this information on the Department website."

Some but not all, of the marriage data appears on the web site. That which is present is not in the format required by the code. In addition, no direct link seems to be available for easy access by citizens.

It is very difficult to study the issues of marriage and divorce without accurate data. The code of Virginia requires that state to collect very specific data and to make it available on the web. We are concerned that the law may not be being followed and would like to know why. In fact, it appears that the offices tasked with this data collection, the State Registrar, does not exist or have anyone in that position.

We anticipate that the state Health Commissioner will fully comply with the law and will provide a reasonable explanation. The commission members simply want to have the best and most accurate information available to them so that they can best study this issue and provide reasonable solutions.