Representative Fialupe Fiaui Lutu isn’t losing hope that her efforts to make 18 the age of marriage for girls, instead of 14, will not be in vain.
Despite the Senate rejecting her bill yesterday, Mrs Fiaui Lutu told KHJ News there’s support in the House to request a conference with the Senate to discuss the bill.
Because there was no motion for reconsideration of the bill after the Senate rejected it, the only recourse for the bill’s sponsor is to reintroduce it in the next session in July.
Mrs FIaui Lutu is confident that if senators hear testimony from the Attorney General concerning why the age change is needed, they would support it.
The Senate Judiciary Committee didn’t call any witnesses but had the Senate Legal Counsel Mitzie Jessop Taase explain the bill.
During a vote in final reading yesterday , only 7 senators supported it while 9 opposed it.
The bill’s sponsor recalled the testimony of AG Talauega Eleasalo Alein the House that he’s thankful to the person who sponsored this bill, something that should have been done a long time ago.
The suggested conference of the House and Senate to discuss the defeated bill, if it happens, would be on an informal basis , as there is no legal provision for such a conference
