Marriage age bill goes to governor

? Legislators sent Gov. Kathleen Sebelius a bill that prohibits anybody under age 15 from getting married in Kansas.

The House’s 119-0 vote Thursday followed Senate approval of the measure a day earlier, 36-4.

The legislation, requested by Sebelius, allows somebody who is 15 to marry, but only if a district court judge decides it’s in the person’s best interest.

Also, anyone 16 or 17 can marry if they have permission from a parent or legal guardian and judicial consent; both parents and any legal guardian; or a judge if the parents are dead and there’s no legal guardian.

The legislation, requested by Sebelius, was prompted by a case in which a 22-year-old Falls City, Neb., man got a 14-year-old girl pregnant and married her last year in Hiawatha, Kan.

After the girl became pregnant, the girl’s mother gave permission for the couple to get married in Kansas.

People must be at least 17 before they can marry in Nebraska, but Kansas doesn’t have a minimum age with parental or judicial approval.