BILL ANALYSIS
AB 25
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 18, 2001
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT
Paul Koretz, Chair
AB 25 (Migden) - As Amended: April 5, 2001
SUBJECT : Domestic partnerships.
SUMMARY : Expands eligibility to register as a domestic partner
and provides additional legal rights to registered domestic
partners. Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes an employee who is entitled under current law to
use sick leave to care for a child, stepchild, parent or
spouse, to also use his or her sick leave to care for a
domestic partner, or child of the domestic partner.
2)Authorizes a domestic partner, to the same extent as a spouse,
to file a claim for disability benefits on behalf of his or
her partner when the partner is mentally unable to file the
claim. This right is extended only when there is no other
legally authorized representative of the disabled person.
3)Extends to a domestic partner the same entitlement as a spouse
to receive unemployment benefits if the reason for leaving his
or her employment is to move with a domestic partner to a new
location from which it is impractical to commute.
4)Requires health plans and disability insurers to offer
employers coverage for domestic partners of employees, in the
same manner as other dependents. If an employer elects to
provide coverage of domestic partners through a group health
plan or a group disability insurer, the bill requires that the
health plan or disability insurer that provides hospital,
medical or surgical expense benefits for employees also enroll
domestic partners in the same manner as other dependents.
5)Extends to domestic partners the same state tax preferences
for health care costs that are available to spouses and
dependents of employees.
6)Extends to domestic partners the right currently given to
family members and others to make medical treatment decisions
on behalf of a partner if the partner is in a health facility
and is incapable of giving informed consent.
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7)Authorizes a domestic partner to bring a cause of action and
recover damages for negligent infliction of emotional distress
and wrongful death, to the same extent that spouses are
entitled do so under California law.
8)Authorizes a domestic partner to participate fully and have
standing to appear in conservatorship proceedings and be
appointed as conservator in the same manner as the spouse of a
conservatee or proposed conservatee.
9)Allows a domestic partner the right to inherit property if one
partner dies without a will, and to be appointed as
administrator of his or her deceased partner's estate, in the
same priority position as a surviving spouse.
10)Revises the statutory will form to include domestic partners
in the class of beneficiaries to whom a testator may leave
assets and property.
11)Expands the group of individuals who may register as domestic
partners by allowing an opposite sex couple to register where
one of the partners is over the age of 62, provided they meet
the other specified requirements. Current law requires both
partners to be over the age of 62.
EXISTING LAW
1)Requires an employer who provides sick leave for employees to
permit an employee to use a specified portion of the
employee's accrued sick leave to attend to the illness of a
child, parent, or spouse of the employee.
2)Provides, under specified circumstances, for unemployment
insurance for an employee who leaves a job to join the
employee's spouse at a place from which it is impractical to
commute.
3)Provides that the spouse of an employee eligible for
disability insurance may file a claim for disability benefits
on behalf of the employee if the employee is mentally unable
to file such a claim.
4)Provides causes of action for a surviving spouse in wrongful
death, negligence and negligent infliction of emotional
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distress.
5)Provides for the establishment and administration of
conservatorships and establishes procedures for the nomination
and selection of a conservator.
6)Provides for the execution and use of a statutory will and for
the administration and disposition of the estate of a person
who dies without a will.
7)Sets forth procedures for the establishment, registration and
termination of a domestic partnership between unmarried,
opposite sex couples over the age of 62 or same-sex couples at
least 18 years old. (Family Code Section 297 et seq.) Under
this scheme registered domestic partners are granted limited
rights in the areas of hospital visitation (Health and Safety
Code Section 1261) and health benefits if one of the partners
is a state worker. (Government Code Section 22867 et seq.)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)With respect to labor and employment issues, this bill amends
several statutes related to sick leave, unemployment insurance
benefits, and disability insurance benefits to provide that
under such statutes a registered domestic partner has the same
rights as a spouse under current law.
2)In support of this measure, the Author states: "Until the
enactment of AB 26 in 1999, same sex couples and their
families received no recognition under California law. Even
with the enactment of the domestic partner registry with
hospital visitation rights and health benefits for public
employees, few substantive benefits are available to domestic
partners that register. This bill would extend to domestic
partners substantive legal and economic benefits that married
spouses enjoy. These are basic protections such as health
insurance coverage for many private sector employees, an end
to state taxation of domestic partner health benefits, the
right to medical decision making in the hospital, recognition
of domestic partners under the state's inheritance laws, the
right to sue for economic loss and emotional distress caused
by the death of a partner, the ability to use sick leave to
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care for their families, and other important rights."
3)In opposition to this measure, the Campaign for California
Families argues that this bill robs marriage of its uniqueness
by giving 11 different marriage benefits to non-spouses. In
addition to undermining marriage between a man and a woman,
this bill is unnecessary because many of the benefits it seeks
can already be accessed through inexpensive legal contracts
and reasonable planning. This bill also burdens private
businesses and taxpayers. The Traditional Values Coalition
(TVC) argues that the bill is an attempt to circumvent the
will of the majority of Californians who voted for Proposition
22 which, they claim, "declared that the rights and privileges
of marriage should not be extended to other forms of so-called
'unions." According to TVC, "any Domestic Partnership is an
automatic threat and deterrent to the institution of
marriage." The state has no vested interest in advocating or
promoting domestic partnerships since they cannot give birth
to a family.
4)AB 1338 (Koretz), pending in the Assembly Judiciary Committee,
is a "civil union" bill modeled after the Vermont law. It
would provide that the rights and obligations of a civil
union, which could be entered into by any two persons, are the
same as those of a marriage.
AB 2421 (Migden) of 2000, as introduced, would have expanded
the legal rights of domestic partners with regard to the right
to take sick leave, to collect unemployment insurance
benefits, and to file a claim for disability benefits. Those
provisions were subsequently deleted from AB 2421 and replaced
with the same provision contained in this bill expanding the
group of individuals who can register as domestic partners to
include opposite sex couples where only one individual, rather
than both, is over the age of 62. That version of the bill was
passed by the Legislature but vetoed by Governor Davis.
5)Labor Code Section 233, which is related to sick leave
benefits is also being amended by SB 1197 (Romero). This
conflict should be reconciled prior to final passage of these
measures.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
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AARP
AIDS Healthcare Foundation
AIDS Project Los Angeles
American Civil Liberties Union
Bay Area Municipal Elections Committee
Berkley City Council
Board of Supervisors, City and County of San Francisco
CA Church Impact
California Alliance for Pride and Equality (Sponsor)
California Association for Counseling and Development
California Faculty Association
California HIV Advocacy Coalition
California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO
California Nurses Association
California Professional Firefighters
California School Employees Association
California Teachers Association
Cisco Systems
City of West Hollywood
Congregation KOL AMI
Congress of California Seniors
Consumer Attorneys Of California
East Bay Municipal Utility District
First Baptist Church of Berkeley
Friends Committee on Legislation of California
Frontiers Newsmagazine
Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center of Orange County
Gray Panthers of Sacramento
Human Rights Campaign
Human Rights/Fair Housing Commission, City and County of
Sacramento
Inland Empire Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club
Irvine United Church of Christ
L. A. Gay & Lesbian Center
Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc.
Law Offices of Jeffrey A. Mittman
Law Offices of R. Todd Vlaanderen
Legal Aid Society of San Francisco Employment Law Center
Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force
Lightning Insurance Brokerage
Loyola Law School Gay and Lesbian Law Association
Mexican American Community Services Agency, Inc.
National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter
National Organization for Women
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New Dimensions Broadcasting Network
Numerous individuals
Office and Professional Employees, Local 3
Older Women's League of California
Pacific Pride Foundation
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)
People for the American Way
Pride at Work, AFL-CIO
Project Freedom of Religion
SAC L.E.G.A.L.
San Diego Lesbian and Gay Men's Community Center
San Francisco AIDS Foundation
Service Employees International Union, Local 347
Stonewall Democratic Club of the Central Coast
Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto
University of California, Berkeley College Writing Programs
Youth Leadership Institute
Opposition
Calvary Church Santa Ana
Calvary Chapel Chino Valley
Campaign for California Families
Capitol Resource Institute
Christian Coalition of California
Committee on Moral Concerns
Constitutional Republican Women
First Baptist Church, Taft
Hope Chapel
MVP Vacuum
Numerous individuals
Traditional Values Coalition
Analysis Prepared by : Ralph Lightstone / L. & E. / (916)
319-2091