Domestic partnership law finally set to pass?

Photo by Steve Rhodes/flickr

ALBUQUERQUE — When New Mexico’s state legislature convenes on Jan. 20, one of the first bills to be considered is a domestic partnership legislation. The House bill, HB 21 (PDF), is sponsored by Rep. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuqurque, and the Senate version, SB 12 (PDF), is carried by Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Albuquerque.

The legislation would establish that two unmarried people who live together as a committed couple are entitled to receive the same “rights and responsibilities” under state law as a married couple. Both straight and gay couples could become domestic partners by filling out paperwork and paying a minimal fee to the county clerk.

“Passage of the legislation would be hugely significant for a couple who wants their relationship to have legal protections,” said Linda Siegle, lobbyist for Equality New Mexico, an advocacy group for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT) communities.

“People will be able to inherit without having a will,” Siegle said. “They’ll be able to visit in the hospital and make decisions on their partner’s behalf, just like spouses may do now. They’ll also be eligible for state retirement benefits. And these are just a few of the benefits that married couples now have that unmarried couples do not.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico also supports the legislation. ACLU-NM Communications Director Whitney Potter said the bills are simply about equal protection.

“This legislation would provide basic protections — it’s fundamentally about equality and fairness under the law,” Potter said.

Potter emphasized the importance of the legislation for senior citizens and disabled people in unmarried partnerships who face the same lack of legal protections as GLBT couples.

“Senior citizens might not get married for financial reasons, for instance,” she explained, “but they should be able to share a room at a nursing home or make end-of-life decisions for their partner without having to go through the very expensive process of hiring an attorney to draw up a power of attorney contract or to set up a trust. Ultimately, this is about having strong families.”

If the legislation passes, New Mexico will further its status as one of the top states in the nation in protecting the rights of people based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The state already has a nondiscrimination law based on sexual orientation, plus what Siegle describes as a “very advanced” hate crimes law.

Advocates are “cautiously optimistic”

Rep. Mimi Stewart is optimistic about her bill’s future, given the changing makeup of the Roundhouse. Not only is a new crop of fresh faces arriving in 2009, many of whom are considered in favor of such legislation, but some of the stalwarts who opposed similar bills in previous sessions — from both political parties — are not returning.

Last year, Stewart introduced a domestic partnership bill that won approval in the House but didn’t make it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee for a vote. Two of the most vocal opponents of the bill on that committee won’t be back: Sen. Leonard Lee Rawsom, R-Las Cruces, and Sen. Lidio Rainaldi, D-Gallup.

Another senator, John Grubesic, D-Santa Fe, told NMI’s Trip Jennings last year — when he was writing for the Albuquerque Journal — that the bill didn’t have the votes it needed because 2008 was an election year, and all 112 members of the legislature were up for election.

Grubesic blamed Gov. Bill Richardson for advocating passage of the bill given the election year dynamics.

“I think there’s a little animosity among people about the governor bringing this up during an election year,” Grubesic said.

This year — 2009 — is not an election year for the Legislature, but committee assignments have yet to be determined, and there are still a number of conservative Democratic legislators who oppose the bill. One of them, Sen. Richard Martinez, D-Española, broke ranks last year with Sen. Rainaldi to vote with Republicans against it in the Judiciary Committee, for a 6-4 vote that tabled the bill.

Nonetheless, Siegle said she was “cautiously optimistic” about the prospects for the bill.

As evidence she pointed to the narrow passage of California’s Proposition 8 in November. That citizen-driven proposition reversed the California Supreme Court ruling last spring that allowed gay and lesbian couples to marry.

Whereas in times past such legislation would have passed by a safe margin, this year it passed by under five percentage points, Siegle pointed out. She sees this as a sign of a generational shift in attitudes that will ultimately work in favor of GLBT rights, including domestic partnership legislation.

“When you survey people under 30, the numbers in support of gay marriage or civil unions is well over 50 percent,” Siegle said. “But when you survey those over 65 it’s just the opposite. We’re seeing a generational change, which I have really noticed since I first began to work on GLBT issues in 1991. Attitudes and beliefs have changed dramatically in those 17 years.”