H.R. 5617: Copyright and Marriage Equality Act
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H.R. 5617: Copyright and Marriage Equality Act
113th Congress · introduced 2014-09-18 · Commerce · Latest: Referred to the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet.
federal
Follow this bill, step by step
- Where it came from: introduced 2014-09-18 · official record
- Who proposed it: Rep. Kilmer, Derek [D-WA-6] · what a sponsor is
- What happened next: no floor votes in our records yet. Why?
- Where it stands now: Referred to the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet. Not final yet: this can still change. We check for updates every day.
- If it becomes law and spends money: follow the money to money laws, then agencies and contracts and grants.
Official title
Copyright and Marriage Equality Act
Plain summary
Copyright and Marriage Equality Act - Amends federal copyright law to revise the definition of "widow" or "widower" for purposes of provisions concerning the transfer of a copyright to an author's spouse or other next of kin following the author's death. Declares that an individual is the widow or widower of an author if the courts of the state in which the individual and the author were married (or, if the individual and the author were not married in any state but were validly married in another jurisdiction, the courts of any state) would find that the individual and the author were validly married at the time of the author's death. (Currently, only the author's surviving spouse under the law of the author's domicile at the time of death is considered a widow.)
Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.
What a vote does
A “Yea” vote
If it passes both chambers and is signed, it becomes law.
A “Nay” vote
If it is not passed, current law stays as it is.
PSI Sci description of the legislative step (not an opinion).
What does this mean? (plain words)
Official text
Copyright and Marriage Equality Act
Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House)
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How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes
Officials and money
Sponsor: Rep. Kilmer, Derek [D-WA-6] · 35 cosponsors
Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.
Cosponsors on this site
Suzan K. DelBene (D-WA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Adam B. Schiff (D-CA), Mark Takano (D-CA), Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY), Adam Smith (D-WA), James A. Himes (D-CT), Scott H. Peters (D-CA), Grace Meng (D-NY), Julia Brownley (D-CA), James P. McGovern (D-MA), Dina Titus (D-NV)
No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.
Words on this page, explained (1)
- Jurisdiction
- The area or the matters a government or court has authority over.
Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.
Sources
- Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House)
- Congress.gov
- Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-113hr5617.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/113/hr>
Record fed-us-cong113-hr5617 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong113 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong113