CONN. BILL AIMS TO CLARIFY MARRIAGE LICENSE RULES AFTER NON-CITIZENS FLAGGED

Hartford — Referencing the New Haven incident, state lawmakers passed a bill Wednesday that would prohibit asking people about their citizenship status or for their Social Security number when applying for a marriage license.

Current law requires the Social Security numbers of both individuals to be recorded, but regulations say Social Security numbers are not always required to get the license, according to Steve Stafstrom, D-Bridgeport, who presented the bill. It passed 109-39 in the state House of Representatives.

“What this bill simply does is, resulting from an incident earlier this year in New Haven where there was some confusion in the clerk’s office as to whether a Social Security Number was required to be presented or not, it makes clear that Social Security number is a permissible form of identification in order to obtain a marriage license, but it is not the only permissible form of identification,” Stafstrom said.

A government-issued photo ID is preferable, Stafstrom said, but if applicants do not provide that, they can choose two forms of identification from a list including a Social Security card, birth certificate, voter registration card, a copy of a utility bill, automobile registration and firearm permit.

State-level elected officials said they are acting to prevent further confusion on marriage license requirements, like what played out between New Haven, East Haven and the state Department of Public Health last year.

The New Haven Registrar of Vital Statistics, Patricia Clark, required applicants submit birth certificates and other superfluous documentation, and she reported 93 non-citizen marriages to federal immigration authorities, calling them “green card marriages,” according to a report on the city’s investigation.

Clark was placed on paid leave pending an investigation, which concluded she misused her authority and “was acting as a self-appointed agent” of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. The investigation report says her concerns about potentially fraudulent marriages were justifiable, but her actions were not. Clark retired on the day of her internal hearing, meaning she was not subject to further disciplinary action and will still receive her pension, officials have said.