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QueerNews版 - Colorado Civil Unions Move Forward
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Posted on Advocate.com March 18, 2011
Colorado Civil Unions Move Forward
By Sunnivie Brydum
PAT STEADMAN X390 (FAIR) | ADVOCATE.COM
The Colorado state senate appropriations committee Friday approved a civil
unions bill by a party-line vote of 6-4.
SB-172, sponsored by gay Democratic senator Pat Steadman of Denver, now
moves to the full senate, where it is expected to pass. All 20 Democratic
senators — a majority of the chamber's 35 senators — have signed on as
bill cosponsors.
The bill will then face the house, which has a one-seat Republican majority,
making the bill's fate there uncertain.
If it passes the senate, Rep. Mark Ferrandino of Denver will introduce the
bill in the house. “There is bipartisan support for civil unions in the
House, and I am hopeful that we can pass this important legislation,”
Ferrandino said in an e-mail to The Advocate. “If the bill can get to the
floor of the house, I am confident it will pass the house and be sent to the
governor's desk.”
Upon introduction, speaker of the house Frank McNulty, a Republican from
south Denver suburb Highlands Ranch, will assign the bill to a committee,
which will likely determine its fate. McNulty has publicly promised that the
bill will get a fair hearing, but some observers fear the bill will be sent
to a "kill-committee” and fail to reach the house floor.
If passed, SB-172 would offer many of the same legal rights and protections
enjoyed by heterosexual married couples, including inheritance, medical
decision-making, adoption, and dissolution rights. As written, the bill
would allow civil unions between any two unmarried adults, regardless of
gender.
It was this stipulation that dominated appropriations committee member and
Republican state senator Kent Lambert’s questions to Steadman, the
committee chair, during the brief, early-morning hearing. Lambert referenced
France, where civil unions have become increasingly popular for French
citizens as marriage rates have declined in the country.
Steadman explained the differences between French civil unions, which are
legally identical to marriage, and his proposed bill in Colorado.
“In countries such as France where [civil unions are] an option, there is,
as I understand, perfect equivalency between a civil union and marriage, and
so there’ s no disincentive for people to choose one over the other,”
Steadman explained. “Whereas that’s not the case with SB-172. This is
nowhere near equal to marriage. It’s not the same, and so the number of
opposite-sex couples electing this option, I don’t think, is going to be
anywhere near what they’ve seen in France or some other countries where the
two options are equivalent. This is a lesser benefit package, and so I
think fewer opposite-sex couples are going to go down that path.”
Steadman also addressed concerns raised by Republican senator Keith King
about the potential fiscal impact of changes to insurance policies to
include same-sex civil union partners. Steadman explained that SB-172
specifically delays the implementation of marriage-like tax and insurance
benefits for couples until January and establishes research committees to
investigate and report on how to incorporate same-sex partners into benefit
packages in a way that is not only fair but is also constitutional under
Colorado’s Amendment 43, which bars the state from recognizing as marriage
any union besides that of one man and one woman.
Appropriations committee members voted along party lines to pass the bill to
the senate floor, where it could be heard as early as next week.
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