BILL ANALYSIS AB 54 Date of Hearing: April 16, 1997 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Carole Migden, Chairwoman AB 54 (Murray) - As Amended: 4/8/97 Policy Committee: JUDIDICARY Vote: 10 - 4 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable: Yes SUMMARY This bill authorizes state recognition of domestic partners. Specifically, this bill : 1) Defines domestic partners and provides for a Declaration of Domestic Partnership (DDP) to be established when: a) The persons have a common residence and agree to be jointly responsible for each other's basic living expenses. b) Neither person is married or a member of another domestic partnership. c) They are not related by blood in a way preventing marriage to each other in this state and are at least 18 years of age. d) Both file a (DDP) with the Secretary of State. 2) Provides for registration of domestic partners with the Secretary of State (SOS), providing the provision of partnerships and authorizing fees for the costs of processing the forms. 3) Prohibits filing a new DDP until at least six months after filing a Notice of Termination of Domestic Partnership (NTDP) with the SOS (unless the previous domestic partnership ended as the result of the death of one of the partners). 4) Requires health facilities to allow a domestic partner, the children of the domestic partner, and the domestic partner of a patient's parent or child to visit the patient. 5) Adds references to domestic partners to the numerous sections of the Probate Code regarding conservatorship and statutory - continued - AB 54 Page 1 AB 54 wills. FISCAL EFFECT 1) Costs to the Secretary of State for creation and provision of forms would be offset by fees. The Secretary of State states his budget is inadequate to cover the costs to develop the regulations to administer this program. The costs of regulations development normally would be addressed through the annual budget process and amoritized into registration fees. 2) Negligible local reimbursable costs for distribution of forms provided by the Secretary of State. BACKGROUND This bill is nearly identical to AB 2810 (Katz), 1984, which passed both houses but was vetoed by the governor; and to AB 627 (Katz), 1995, which was held in Assembly policy committee. Extensive background is included in the Judiciary Committee analysis. There are 25 organizations registering support for this measure and 9 organizations registering opposition. The Judiciary Committee analysis includes summaries of comments in support and in opposition to this bill. - continued - AB 54 Page 2