Governor Gavin Newsom signs legislation ending parental-consent exceptions for minors and sets 18 as the minimum age for marriage and domestic partnerships
Washington, Oct 2026 : California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed legislation banning marriage for anyone under the age of 18, eliminating provisions that previously allowed minors to marry with parental consent.
The legislation, Assembly Bill 1267, also establishes 18 as the minimum age for entering into a domestic partnership, according to the governor’s office. The bill was introduced by Democratic Assemblymember Gail Pellerin of Santa Cruz and was backed by child-marriage prevention advocates.
Newsom signed the measure at his office on Wednesday, local time, alongside Courtney Stodden, an advocate against child marriage whose parents permitted her to marry actor Doug Hutchison when she was 16.
“This is a long overdue measure to protect young Californians and minors. Today, California kids are safer than ever before,” Newsom said in a statement issued by his office.
The new law replaces provisions that allowed minors to enter marriages or domestic partnerships with parental approval. It was sponsored by Unchained At Last, an organisation campaigning against child marriage, and the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls.
Stodden welcomed the legislation but said the campaign would continue beyond California. She said the measure demonstrated that survivors of child marriage should not have been expected to bear the burden created by arrangements involving minors.
“California is a victory, but I’m not stopping here. I will keep fighting until children are protected from marriage in all 50 states,” Stodden said.
The governor’s office described Stodden as a survivor of child marriage who became a national advocate against child exploitation following her divorce. It said she has characterised her relationship with Hutchison as abusive and predatory.
Her experience featured prominently during the signing ceremony, where supporters highlighted the difficulties minors may face when attempting to leave marriages arranged or approved by adults.
Pellerin credited survivors with helping shape the legislation. She said their experiences demonstrated how parental approval or an apparent willingness to marry could mask coercion and abuse.
“The heart of this effort has always been the survivors,” Pellerin said, adding that survivors had described the challenges of being placed in marriages they had not freely chosen.
She also pointed to the practical barriers minors can face when seeking assistance, including finding legal representation, leaving home or escaping situations involving the adults responsible for their care.
The legislation applies to both marriage and domestic partnerships and removes parental-consent provisions for minors entering either arrangement.
Marriage laws in the United States are primarily governed by individual states. As a result, minimum-age requirements and exceptions have historically varied across the country. Efforts to eliminate child marriage have therefore largely proceeded through individual state legislatures rather than through a single nationwide law.
According to the California governor’s office, 17 US states had completely banned child marriage without exceptions. Unchained At Last has campaigned for an absolute minimum marriage age of 18 nationwide.
The California legislation represents a significant change in the state’s legal framework governing marriage and domestic partnerships involving minors. Supporters say the measure is intended to strengthen protections for children and address concerns raised by survivors about coercion, abuse and the difficulty of obtaining help when adults responsible for them are involved.
(Disclaimer :The content of this article is sourced from a news agency and has not been edited by the Mavericknews30 team.)
