From Deseret News archives:
Bill intended to stop domestic partner registry passed by Senate committee
The Senate Health and Human Services Committee voted unanimously to send SB267 to the full Senate for a vote. Key to the debate was whether or not the city's registry, aimed at giving private companies a way to recognize domestic partnerships and granting hospital visitation rights, violates a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and domestic unions.
The version of the bill approved is a substitute version aimed at keeping in tact Salt Lake's benefit program that allows city employees to choose an adult designee for benefits, said Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, the bill's sponsor.
"We have never challenged that," Buttars said of the existing city program. "It does not favor or designate a particular group or class of people."
However, he said the domestic partner registry "is nothing more than an open checkbook" toward future benefits unique to marriage and that already "mimics Utah's marriage recognition policy to a T."
"We want to make it clear to those (companies) looking for some formal recognition of that relationship, that domestic relationship exists," Becker said, adding that while the legislature does have the right to override the city, "that would be a big mistake. Salt Lake City has a population that wants passage of a domestic partner registry."
Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake, who had sharp questions about whether or not a family pass to the city ice rink would be prohibited, was absent for the vote because he was presenting a bill before another committee.
After the hearing, he said when the bill comes before the full Senate, "I would just ask them to judge each piece of legislation on its merits ... rather than engage in the paranoid idea there is some sort of grand conspiracy under foot."
E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com
Recent comments
I pity your ignorance. If I had stayed married to my ex-husband, my...
To Sokol | July 1, 2008 at 6:08 p.m.
Let's face it, this isn't about equal rights (although it should be)....
S David Olson | Feb. 19, 2008 at 12:42 a.m.
Naha Yazzie
I totally understood "I'm Asking" that's
why it's a...
Mountain High | Feb. 15, 2008 at 4:06 p.m.
- Wildcats pounded by the Tribe 5:40 p.m.
- Cougars lead Utes 10-6 at halftime 4:56 p.m.
- TSA gets Grinchy with snow globes 4:34 p.m.
- Luxury resort in depressed Rhode Is. 4:34 p.m.
- Jones' joy for life remembered 4:09 p.m.
- Fantasy is reality for BYU professor 4:05 p.m.
- 'A Christmas Story' opens this week 4:05 p.m.
- Art gallery exhibitions this week 4:05 p.m.
- Special exhibits and programs 4:05 p.m.
- Utah concert calendar 4:05 p.m.
- Cave to be sealed with body inside
- Predicting the unpredictable: BYU wins
- Vegas, Poinsettia bowls or bust
- Glover gives Utes last-second upset
- BYU football: 5 keys to victory
- Cougars turn back Wildcats'
- Running game key to BYU offense
- Man trapped in Nutty Putty cave dies
- Woods, wife unavailable for interview
- Idaho woman dies after fall
- BYU would like friendlier rivalry
272 - Thunder rolls by Jazz
136 - Letters: Rushing to judge Palin
134 - Boys basketball rankings
134 - Editorial: Poor welcome for Palin
113 - Cave to be sealed with body inside
113 - Man trapped in Nutty Putty cave dies
111 - Letters: Trump card for believers
98 - Rivalry Week is highly profane
88 - Utah, BYU are top choices for bowls
76
I wanted to tell them not to go. I dropped subtle hints. "My money is on...
When I was a kid, I worshipped my grandpa. He was undoubtedly my hero....
Has anyone heard about the Bottle Hollow Resort on the Ute reservation?
Re Crazy: People arbitrarily decide how much a teacher should make, so it...
No question everything is going BYU's way: the calls, the bounces, the...
This woman speaks the truth....your butt really does look big in those...
Well, sir, I believe there is hope yet for the X, Y and Z generatiosn of...
Modern medicine didn't even exist when this country was founded. Health...
I want to comment on a XM show you did on subliminal suggestions. I recently...
Yes, we Latter-day Saints do indeed celebrate Christmas, in fact, the...
Yes, LDS are fully commissioned officers in the US Armed Forces, and they all...
The police routinely cycle in and out of military units now in the national...


