House committee votes down domestic partner benefits

Rep. Ryan Winkler offered an amendment in the Government Operations and Elections Commmittee on Wednesday that would have allowed local governments to offer domestic partner benefits to same-sex couples, but Republican members opposed the measure. A 1995 court case struck down the ability of local governments to offer domestic partner benefits, and instead communities across the state have enacted domestic partner registries that currently cover 1 million Minnesota residents.

Winkler sought to amend a bill by Rep. Steve Drazkowski that would repeal a number of local government mandates — including a statute that mandates group health insurance for local government units — to allow local governments to offer domestic partner benefits if they chose.

Winkler said current statute “doesn’t offer local government units the opportunity to tailor their benefits to be more consistent with the families that work for them.”

“Two hundred and ninety Minnesota employers offer domestic partner benefits, but in state law we say local governments can’t do that,” he said. “That is a mandate that the Minnesota government imposes on local government units.”

Winkler continued, “Several municipalities in the state have passed resolutions specifically requesting us to make this change,” including the city of Edina.

Drazkowski said he opposed the measure. “If we would pass an amendment like this, it would introduce into board meetings the discussion around these very controversial issues that would take up lots of their valuable time.”

Winkler retorted that Drazkowski’s opposition “suggests you are targeting one group for different treatment.”

“Seventy percent of fortune 500 companies in Minnesota offer these benefits,” he added. “The only place it’s controversial is at the legislature, not in the real world.”

Local governments have tried to offer domestic partner benefits. Minneapolis passed an ordinance giving its employees such benefits in 1993, but in 1995 conservative activist James Lilly won a lawsuit at the Minnesota Court of Appeals that ruled that Minnesota’s statute on group insurance prohibited municipalities from offering benefits to anyone other than spouses or dependent children.

Since then, municipalities have begun to offer domestic partner registries that allow couples to provide proof of their relationship for family memberships in city programs and participation in partner benefits with employers.

The cities of Minneapolis, Duluth, St. Paul, Rochester, Golden Valley, Maplewood, Edina, St. Louis Park and Richfield have all enacted such registries.

Ultimately, Winkler’s amendment failed along a party line vote.