Court expects to clear same-sex ruling April 27

DES MOINES – State budget problems are even impacting the startup of same-sex marriages in Iowa.

The Iowa Supreme Court issued a news release Tuesday indicating April 27 likely would be the date that it clears the way for county recorders to begin issuing marriage license applications to same-sex couples – unless a petition for rehearing is filed.

The normal 21-day process for implementing last Friday's unanimous decision that struck down a state law recognizing only one-man, one-woman unions as legal marriage in Iowa would be April 24. However, that's a furlough day for the court system's roughly 1,600 employees so all court offices will be closed due to state budget cuts.

The court's landmark ruling continues to reverberate through the state Capitol, where leaders of Democratic majorities in the House and Senate have indicated they do not plan to address this session any effort to amend the state Constitution to reassert marriage as only between one man and one woman.

On Tuesday, Sen. David Johnson, R-Ocheyedan, said he has drafted a “petition of discharge” that already has garnered 18 signatures from senators who wish to sidestep procedural hurdles in bringing the constitutional resolution to a vote in the Senate, where Democrats hold a 32-18 edge. He would need another eight senatorial signatures to force the unlikely action.

“It is clear there are people on both sides of the aisle who want to send this to the people of Iowa to decide,” said Johnson.

On the House side, House GOP Leader Kraig Paulsen of Hiawatha said he plans to approach House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Des Moines, about co-sponsoring a leadership resolution on the constitutional amendment.

“A decision has to be made in the not too distant future. This can't drag on,” he said.

To change the Iowa Constitution requires a resolution to be adopted in the exact same form by the House and the Senate of two consecutive General Assemblies before the issue would go to voters for ratification. The earliest such a resolution could clear that process would be the 2011 session.

Another option that has emerged would be for voters to agree to convene a wide-ranging constitutional convention when the issue comes before them on the November 2010 ballot – an issue that by law appears on the ballot every 10 years.