The Arizona
senate defeated a measure on Tuesday that would have
prevented state employees from adding domestic partners and
their children to their benefits plans. The bill
failed on a vote of 16-14, with one of the no
votes coming from the bill's sponsor, Sen. Pamela
Gorman, in a procedural move to keep the bill alive,
according to a Equality Arizona press release.
SB 1499 would
exclude domestic partners and their children from the
definition of "dependent" for the purposes of state employee
and retirement benefits. The bill was introduced as
the Arizona Department of Administration awaits a
decision from the Governor's Regulatory Review
Council on whether or not they can move forward with a
proposed rule change to offer domestic-partner
benefits to state employees. Most of the nearly 1,500
people who submitted comments to the ADOA support
domestic-partner benefits for state employees, according to
Equality Arizona executive director Barbara
McCullough-Jones. "Today's action supports the
people who work for this state every day in jobs that
improve the lives of our residents, ensure public safety,
and much more," she said in the release.
By voting against
the bill, Gorman can make a motion to reconsider the
vote. The senator has until Thursday evening to make her
reconsideration motion, which needs a majority of
senators present at the time for approval. If the
motion to reconsider is not approved, today's vote would
be final. (The Advocate)
