Cal State Panel OKs Giving Health Benefits to Partners

A panel of California State University trustees on Tuesday approved health benefits for same-sex partners of university employees and for opposite-sex “domestic partners” 62 or older.

Final approval by the full Board of Trustees is expected today.

The quick and unanimous adoption by a committee of Cal State trustees, which remains dominated by appointees of former Gov. Pete Wilson, came in sharp contrast to the all-out political battle in 1997 when the University of California embraced such benefits on a cliffhanger vote.

Wilson had called on his appointees to help him scuttle domestic-partner benefits, which he condemned on legal and moral grounds, saying “it will devalue the institution of marriage.”

But much has happened in two years, and such benefits are becoming more commonplace.

Democratic Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill last month establishing same-sex health benefits for any state employee covered by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.

Unlike other state agencies, Cal State is controlled by an independent Board of Trustees. So under the law, the trustees must opt into the program before any Cal State employees could qualify for it.

The Cal State trustees panel on Tuesday granted approval with little discussion, said Colleen Bentley-Adler, a Cal State spokeswoman. “It’s a sign of the times,” she said. “It’s pretty much becoming standard across the state.”

The trustees also granted domestic partners the same dental and vision coverage offered to employees’ spouses.

Cal State officials have no estimate on how many of its 40,000 professors, administrators and other employees would sign up for such health benefits, or what the expanded coverage would cost. Typically, fewer than 1% of university employees sign up for such benefits.

Under the law, an employee will be able to apply for health coverage of a same-sex partner in January for coverage as early as Feb. 1.

To qualify, same-sex couples can qualify for the benefits provided both are at least 18 years old, share living expenses and are not married or in another domestic partnership. These couples, who must register with the California secretary of state, will also be guaranteed hospital visitation rights.

The law, which was written by Assemblywoman Carol Migden (D-San Francisco), also allows unmarried heterosexual couples to qualify for benefits provided both are 62 or older and collecting Social Security.

As written, these older opposite-sex couples can sign up for health benefits and hospital visitation rights without needing to marry--a legal status than can diminish or alter their Social Security and pension benefits.