Domestic Partnership News Archive (December 1

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Domestic Partnership News Archive
December 01 - December 06, 2000

This page contains news for the period December 01, 2000 through December 06, 2000.

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Assemblymember Carole Migden has introduced a new domestic partnership bill (AB 25) into the recently convened legislative session in California.

AB 25 would broaden domestic partners law to include such important rights as medical decision making, inheritance without a will, conservatorship and other vital rights currently denied to thousands of unmarried couples throughout California.

The bill is co-authored by Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg, Senate President Pro Tem John Burton and newly elected Senator Sheila James Kuehl. Also joining as co-authors are freshman Assemblymembers Jackie Goldberg and Christine Kehoe. Several more members of the legislature are expected to sign on shortly.

AB 25 will provide to registered domestic partners several basic rights that currently only couples able to marry enjoy under California law. Specifically, under this bill, domestic partners would be entitled to the following rights:

* Make medical decisions if a partner is incapacitated and unable to give informed consent
* Inherit property if one's partner dies without a will and be appointed as administrator of a partner's estate
* Appear in conservatorship proceedings and be appointed as a conservator
* Recover for economic damages for negligent infliction of emotional distress and wrongful death
* Use sick leave benefits to care for an ill domestic partner or a domestic partner's child
* Leave a job to relocate with a domestic partner without jeopardizing unemployment benefits
* Deduct from state gross income certain amounts expended for medical care and exclude the value of employer-provided health insurance costs
* Revise the statutory will to include domestic partners in the class of beneficiaries to whom a testator may leave his or her estate
* Extend employer-based health coverage to domestic partners of small businesses

The bill would allow opposite-sex couples to register as domestic partners if either one or both partners are over the age of 62. Under the current domestic partnership registry, in order for a heterosexual couple to register, both partners must be over 62.

Assemblymember Migden was the author of the original bill (AB 26) that created the statewide domestic partner registry. Since the new law took effect on January 1, 2000, thousands of California couples have registered as domestic partners.

Under the current domestic partners law same-sex couples as well as unmarried opposite-sex couples in which both partners are over 62 years old can register as domestic partners with the Secretary of State's office. The law also provides domestic partners hospital visitation rights and requires state and local government employers who contract with the Public Employees' Retirement System to offer health benefits to the domestic partners of their employees.

A story published today in the Los Angeles Times reports that some two weeks after quietly becoming Orange County's second city to offer health benefits to the domestic partners of its gay employees, the Mission Viejo city council is considering taking those benefits away.

"I want it to be rescinded," Councilman John Paul Ledesma said, referring to the Nov. 20 resolution that he and Councilman William S. Craycraft opposed. At Ledesma's request, the council met to discuss the matter in closed session Monday.

"I think it puts the city in a position of saying that we support things that don't necessarily reflect the majority values of the city," Ledesma said. The councilman said he decided to request the reversal after this week's swearing-in of Councilwoman Gail Reavis, who opposes the policy.

City Manager Dan Joseph said a reconsideration of the benefit, which is already in effect, can be initiated only by one of the two remaining council members who voted for it--Susan Withrow and Sherri M. Butterfield. "To my knowledge," Joseph said, "that's not happened. This is now a benefit belonging to city employees, and if there is going to be any change in the benefits, it has to go through a meet-and-confer process."

The story said that Roger Faubel, the third council member who voted for the measure, lost his reelection bid and was succeeded by Reavis. Monday night's closed session focused on whether to reopen contract discussions with city employees in light of the new council's sentiment, though the city manager said that would be unusual.

"If we get to the point where we're talking about rescinding some benefit the employees already have, it will be new territory," he said. "We've never done that in the 12 years we've been a city."

Southwest Airlines breaks the gender barrier and extends benefits to unmarried partners of its employees, same and opposite sex couples alike

Under the airline's "committed partner benefits policy," unmarried partners of employees who meet eligibility requirements will be included in the following benefits programs as dependents:

* Medical plan
* Mental health chemical dependency plan
* Basic or optional dental plan
* Dependent life
* Employee assistance plan
* Family/medical leave for serious illness of partner
* Bereavement leave for death of partner
* Childcare resource and referral (work/life benefits)
* You decide.com

In order for a committed partner to be eligible for medical, dental, or mental health chemical dependency coverage, he or she must not be eligible for healthcare coverage through another employer.

To be eligible, the employee and domestic partner must meet all of the following criteria: (1) must be unmarried and in a committed relationship with each other; (2) must have resided together continuously for 12 consecutive months; (3) must have been each other's sole partner for at least 12 months in a relationship intended to be permanent; (4) must share the basic cost of food and shelter; (5) must not be related to each other; and (6) must be at least 18 years of age.

Last year, several major airlines announced they would extend benefits to the same-sex partners of airline employees. Employees with unmarried partners of the opposite sex were told by these carriers that in order to receive benefits for their partners they would have to get married. Airlines with "gays only" domestic partner benefits plans include: United, American, US Air, Northwest, and Delta. Southwest stands apart from these companies as the only major airline with a gender-neutral benefits program.

This is not the first time that Southwest Airlines has broken ranks with its competitors. Several years ago, Southwest initiated a "friends fly free" plan for airline passengers. The plan moved beyond traditional "family plans" which had offered discounts for spouses and family members flying together. In reaction to the new Southwest Airlines program, many other air carriers began to offer "companion" fares with a discount for a second ticket if the companion traveled on the same itinerary as the primary passenger.

AASP congratulates Southwest Airlines for eliminating marital status discrimination from its consumer practices as well as its employee benefits program. Hopefully, other airlines will remove the gender restrictions from their domestic partner benefits programs and allow all unmarried partners of employees -- regardless of gender or sexual orientation -- to be eligible for domestic partner benefits.

Employers have no business telling workers they must get married in order to obtain equal benefits for their unmarried partners. Southwest has created a "marital status neutral" program which should be replicated by other airlines.

Skidmore College to institute a benefits program for partners of staff and faculty

A story published today in the Glens Falls Post Star reports that Skidmore College plans to offer health insurance and other benefits to the unmarried domestic partners of its employees, starting Jan. 1. Skidmore is located in New York state.

Under the program, benefits that the college currently provides to married partners of its employees will be extended to same-sex and male-female couples who are not married. The change will make Skidmore one of the few employers in the region to offer benefits to unmarried partners, but the college will join a growing list of educational institutions and businesses across the state that offer such benefits.

Skidmore President Jamienne Studley said that the college decided to make the change because it wanted to provide equal benefits for gay and lesbian employees.

"That was our leading motivation: to provide equal benefits to those members of the community," Studley said. "We have a policy of nondiscrimination and fairness to all our employees, and it seemed consistent with that."

The benefits are being offered to 575 full-time, nonunion employees and about 70 part-time, nonunion employees. As of Friday, just after the closing of the college's most recent open enrollment period, four employees had signed up for the benefits, said Kathleen Carter, Skidmore's assistant director of human resources for benefits administration.

Benefits that will be offered under the plan include: health insurance; use of college facilities such as the library and gym; full tuition to Skidmore and partial tuition reimbursement for other colleges through a reciprocity program; and consideration of personal leave in the case of death or serious illness of a partner.

Dependent children of domestic partners may also receive health insurance and tuition benefits. Certain part-time, nonunion employees are also eligible, but part-time employees will have to pay for their health insurance.

Like other such policies, Skidmore requires that those eligible be over 18, not be related by blood and that they share property and financial obligations. Skidmore also requires couples to have lived together for six months. People applying for the benefits must provide proof to the college of joint financial or living arrangements and sign an affidavit of domestic partnership.

The State University of New York system, of which ACC is a part, began offering benefits to unmarried partners of employees in 1995. Other colleges and universities in the state also offer the benefits, including the City University of New York system and all colleges affiliated with Columbia University, as well as 10 other colleges and universities.

The law comes into effect on January 1, 2001, but the first register office ceremony is not expected until June at the earliest. It will be left to the federal state to decide where the registration takes place.

The story says that in some ultra-conservative regions such as Bavaria, authorities have suggested that gay and lesbian couples might tie the knot at district council offices, which handle everyday business including vehicle registration.

Under the regulations that were approved, couples can take the same surname, share household insurance and act as the next of kin in key medical decisions. The relationships will have legal recognition, and the rules will extend to foreigners. But the right to adopt children was excluded.

The Bundesrat also voted down key financial provisions which would have ended discrimination on the basis of sexuality over income and inheritance tax laws.

The broader measure envisaged new obligations as well as rights for gay couples. One was the requirement to support an unemployed partner, however the Bundesrat voted this down.

A story published today in the Montana Kaimin, campus newspaper at the University of Montana, reports that the Outfield Alliance, a coalition working to win health benefits for same-sex partners for University of Montana employees, is filing a lawsuit to obtain such benefits through a court order.

The local American Civil Liberties Union contacted the group recently and expressed
interest in the case. "They have done some research and tentatively decided to take the case," Outfield Alliance member and English professor Casey Charles said. "They've already assigned a lawyer to start working."

Last fall, the Outfield Alliance drafted a proposal asking Montana universities to offer staff and faculty the same health benefits for same-sex domestic partners that are offered to spouses or unmarried heterosexual domestic partners.

Commissioner of Higher Education Richard Crofts rejected the proposal, saying that it would cost too much, even though his advisory board had endorsed it overwhelmingly.

Charles said he thinks the costs would really be minimal. "The domestic partner would still pay a premium, and the premiums would most likely add up to just as much or more than the benefits paid," Charles said.