Kentucky Legislation Barring DP Benefits Likely Dead

Kentucky legislation which would prohibit that state's universities from offering domestic partner benefits appears to be dead in the House after passing the Kentucky Senate by a 27-8 vote. The Democratic chairman of the House committee to which the bill has been assigned claims to have enough votes to kill the proposal. The Louisville Courier-Journal reports:

Senate Bill 152 . . . would ban universities and other state agencies from offering health insurance coverage to domestic partners of their employees.

While it passed the Senate by a vote of 27-8 on Feb. 15, it is in the House Health and Welfare Committee, whose chairman, Rep. Tom Burch, D-Louisville, is strongly opposed.

"We'll hear that bill Tuesday and hopefully kill it," Burch said. "I have the votes to kill it. That's my goal."

The legislation was introduced after the University of Louisville announced last year it intended to offer DP benefits to compete with other universities who already offer DP benefits. Even without the passage of this legislation, the viability of those benefits will be much in doubt. Kentucky has enacted a constitutional amendment very similar to the language proposed in Indiana's SJR-7, which prohibits any legal incidents of marriage being conferred upon unmarried couples. Opponents of the DP benefits could simply challenge the constitutionality of the DP benefits. A court in Michigan has already struck down DP benefits offered to government employees in that state based on a similar constitutional prohibition.