The Morgan Hill City Council unanimously adopted a resolution to
provide health benefit coverage for the domestic partner of an
employee or retiree.
The Morgan Hill City Council unanimously adopted a resolution to provide health benefit coverage for the domestic partner of an employee or retiree.
“I think that it’s something that is long overdue,” said Morgan Hill Mayor Dennis Kennedy. “Most businesses have recognized the need for this for a long time. IBM, one of the big corporate giants, has provided benefits for domestic partners for many, many years.”
Hollister Mayor Brian Conroy said decisions on domestic-partner benefits should be made in the state legislator or Congress.
“Yes, it is a good idea in general,” Conroy said. “But it should come from the state or federal government rather than a municipality.”
The cost to Morgan Hill is expected to be minimal, according to city staff. And other cities that have decided to provide the benefit have also reported minimal impact to the budget. Morgan Hill’s same-sex health benefit package will go into effect Sept. 1.
Hollister City Attorney Elaine Cass said many larger cities, such as San Francisco, have adopted such legislation. But Hollister has never considered it, she said. And it has never been brought to her attention.
The state will register same-sex domestic partnerships who are 18 years or older and opposite-sex domestic partners when both are older than 62.
“This was the right thing for the city to do,” Kennedy said. “I’m very supportive of this action.”
Morgan Hill City Councilman Larry Carr also expressed support for the decision:
“I am glad we’re offering it,” he said. “We have to consider what is the fair thing to do, what is the right thing to do, what is the just thing to do and I think this is all those things.”
Assembly Bill 26, which gave California cities the option to extend such benefits to their employees, passed in 1999.
Mary Kay Fisher, human resources director for Morgan Hill, said the employee must register with the Secretary of State by filling out a form and submitting it with a $10 fee.
After registering with the state, the employee will receive a declaration of domestic partnership, a copy of which the city keeps.
Fisher said she was familiar with this type of benefit from a prior position she held in Washington.
The form can be downloaded from the secretary of state’s Web site, www.ss.ca.gov/business/sf/forms/sf-dp1.pdf.
