BILL NUMBER: SB 651	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Leno

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2011

   An act relating to family law.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 651, as introduced, Leno. Family law.
   Existing law regulates and establishes requirements for couples to
enter into a marriage or domestic partnership. Existing case law
recognizes that while, effective November 5, 2008, same-sex couples
lack the right to enter into a relationship designated "marriage,"
they possess the right to the core set of basic substantive legal
rights and attributes traditionally associated with marriage,
including, the opportunity of an individual to establish an
officially recognized and protected family possessing mutual rights
and responsibilities and entitled to the same respect and dignity
accorded a union traditionally designated as marriage.
   This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation that would eliminate statutory differences between
marriage and domestic partnerships to implement the holding of a
specified California Supreme Court case, which made a narrow
distinction between marriage and domestic partnerships based on the
use of the term "marriage" only.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  It is the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation to eliminate statutory differences between marriage and
domestic partnerships to implement the holding of the California
Supreme Court in Strauss v. Horton (2009) 46 Cal.4th 364, which made
a narrow distinction between marriage and domestic partnerships based
on the use of the term "marriage" only.