rockin'robin
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- Apr 22, 2007
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Who would have thought, with all the shacking up going on, that an unmarried couple living together is still against the law in the Sunshine State.
But don't break your lease quite yet.
Two legislative committees approved the repeal of a nearly 150-year-old state law that says unmarried men and women cannot live together under the same roof.
The 1868 law which seems to not have been enforced could still slap those living in sin with a second-degree misdemeanor.
On Monday, the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee approved Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda's HB 4045, which would repeal the part of a Florida statute that makes it a crime "If any man and woman, not being married to each other, lewdly and lasciviously associate and cohabit together."
The bill now moves to the House Judiciary Committee.
Rehwinkel Vasilinda, D-Tallahassee, says the law makes it illegal for people to have roommates, even if there's no romance.
"The statute, as it's written, looks as if you could be arrested on a second degree misdemeanor for merely living with a person of the opposite sex," she said.
Not everybody is ready to move in with the bill.
Rep. Charles Van Zant, R-Palatka, voted against it, citing scripture. God's first institution was marriage, which didn't involve cohabitation, he said.
Rehwinkel Vasilinda has heard from a range of people on her proposal, from young people with roommates to the elderly living together to save money. Besides removing the dated law, she introduced the bill to take advantage of a new House rule that allows members to strike parts of a law.
Rehwinkel finds the rest of the statute appropriate and therefore didn't propose doing away with the rest of it.
But a similar bill (SB 1078) introduced by Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, would repeal the entire statute, which also includes a prohibition on married or unmarried men and women engaging "in open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior."
The Senate Criminal Justice Subcommittee unanimously approved that bill, which has two more committee stops.
There are just three states, Florida, Michigan and Mississippi, that have laws making cohabitation illegal, according to an analysis by Sobel's staff, which cited the National Conference of State Legislatures.
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/story...-repeal-th-century-cohabitation-law/24905881/
But don't break your lease quite yet.
Two legislative committees approved the repeal of a nearly 150-year-old state law that says unmarried men and women cannot live together under the same roof.
The 1868 law which seems to not have been enforced could still slap those living in sin with a second-degree misdemeanor.
On Monday, the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee approved Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda's HB 4045, which would repeal the part of a Florida statute that makes it a crime "If any man and woman, not being married to each other, lewdly and lasciviously associate and cohabit together."
The bill now moves to the House Judiciary Committee.
Rehwinkel Vasilinda, D-Tallahassee, says the law makes it illegal for people to have roommates, even if there's no romance.
"The statute, as it's written, looks as if you could be arrested on a second degree misdemeanor for merely living with a person of the opposite sex," she said.
Not everybody is ready to move in with the bill.
Rep. Charles Van Zant, R-Palatka, voted against it, citing scripture. God's first institution was marriage, which didn't involve cohabitation, he said.
Rehwinkel Vasilinda has heard from a range of people on her proposal, from young people with roommates to the elderly living together to save money. Besides removing the dated law, she introduced the bill to take advantage of a new House rule that allows members to strike parts of a law.
Rehwinkel finds the rest of the statute appropriate and therefore didn't propose doing away with the rest of it.
But a similar bill (SB 1078) introduced by Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, would repeal the entire statute, which also includes a prohibition on married or unmarried men and women engaging "in open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior."
The Senate Criminal Justice Subcommittee unanimously approved that bill, which has two more committee stops.
There are just three states, Florida, Michigan and Mississippi, that have laws making cohabitation illegal, according to an analysis by Sobel's staff, which cited the National Conference of State Legislatures.
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/story...-repeal-th-century-cohabitation-law/24905881/
