Senate Committee Approves Bill To Expand Health Benefits for Registered Domestic Partners
The Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday approved a bill (AB 205) that would expand legal, financial, employment and health benefits to same-sex, registered domestic partners, the Los Angeles Times reports (Ingram, Los Angeles Times, 7/2). The Assembly last month voted 41-29 to pass the measure, sponsored by Assembly member Jackie Goldberg (D-Los Angeles), which would extend to same-sex partners a law enacted in 2000 that guarantees certain benefits to heterosexual, registered domestic partners. These include health coverage under a partner's insurance plan and the authority to consent to an autopsy or organ donation in the event of a partner's death (California Healthline, 6/10). The bill now goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee for consideration. A spokesperson for Gov. Gray Davis (D) said that although the governor has not taken a position on the bill, Davis supports "basic human rights and equality to everyone in California" (Los Angeles Times, 7/2).
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