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. AB 25 Page 2 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 AB 25 Page 3 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 AB 25 Page 4 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 AB 25 Page 5 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 AB 25 Page 6 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 Hermosa Beach MVP Vacuum Numerous individuals Traditional Values Coalition Analysis Prepared by : Ralph Lightstone / L. & E. / (916) 319-2091