Davis Backs Benefits for Partners of Gay Workers

Reversing more of his Republican predecessor’s policies, Gov. Gray Davis said Thursday that he would support a bill extending health benefits to the partners of gay state employees and will not interfere with gay couples seeking to adopt children.

Davis’ comments represented an initial step into an issue that promises to be highly controversial this year, when conservatives push a ballot measure that voters will consider in March 2000 to prohibit legal status for gay marriages.

The governor said during luncheon remarks to the Sacramento Press Club that he is not ready to take a position on the ballot initiative. In the past, he has opposed same-sex marriage.

“It is very important that society understand that if people can find a measure of happiness in their private lives that will allow them to be productive, contributing citizens to our economy, then if . . . domestic partner benefits [will help] . . . I would sign it,” Davis said.

Davis said he would support a bill for gay state employees if it mirrored one he backed in 1997 as a regent at the University of California. That policy extended health benefits to the partners of some gay university employees.

Davis’ statements Thursday were consistent with his stand as lieutenant governor. In 1996, he cast a tiebreaking vote in the state Senate--the first one offered by a lieutenant governor in 21 years--to offer similar domestic benefits.

On the issue of adoption, Davis said it should not be politicized: “I do not believe the judges or those who make these decisions should be encumbered by political biases.”

Wilson had ordered his administration to discourage adoption by gay couples, although the governor’s staff never implemented the policy.

The governor appeared in high spirits and perhaps relieved Thursday, nearly a week after he cleared a rigorous schedule of policy speeches, parties and budget presentations that burdened his first days in office.

He poked fun at reporters and played on the dais with a whistling toy train that was presented to him as a joke gift in recognition of his well-known affection for the children’s book “The Little Engine That Could.”

Reporters questioned Davis about a range of issues that would distinguish his Democratic administration from Wilson’s.

* The governor said he will travel to Mexico City on Feb. 1 to meet with President Ernesto Zedillo. The governor said he hopes to improve relations between California and Mexico that were damaged by the state’s past efforts to target illegal immigrants, an issue that was a top priority for Wilson.

Davis said he was strongly advised by officials from Mexico to follow the model of Texas, where state authorities have an ongoing communication with their counterparts south of the border.

“I think they are . . . delighted to have a governor that is reaching out and looking to increase commerce,” Davis said. “My function is to do my level best to increase economic opportunity for the people of this state.”

* Davis said he is prepared to meet with any California Indian tribes interested in negotiating compacts that would sanction gambling establishments.

Wilson would negotiate with only a few tribes. Hostility over his resistance led other tribes to promote last year’s Proposition 5, a ballot initiative to enable gambling business. Though the measure passed, it has been blocked by the courts.

“My office is open,” said Davis, adding: “I made very clear during the campaign to all sides that I do not intend to allow a massive expansion of gaming.”

* Davis provided a few more details for the education plan that he will submit to a special session of the Legislature next Tuesday.

He said schools that show improvement in student performance from one year to the next could be eligible for cash bonuses worth up to $150 per student.

On other issues, Davis reappointed one of Wilson’s choices to head the California Highway Patrol. Dwight Helmick has served as commissioner of the CHP since 1995.

And in the state Resources Agency, Secretary Mary D. Nichols said the new governor will take a quick and aggressive posture in seeking to extend a moratorium on new offshore oil drilling.