MOTION BY SUPERVISOR ZEV YAROSLAVSKY
Society today has come to recognize as "domestic partnerships" those relationships between two adults of the same or opposite sexes that are characterized by mutual interdependence and an abiding concern for each other’s well-being. Many employers, including the County, have chosen to provide health and other benefits to the domestic partners of their employees. Other government agencies in California that provide these benefits include the cities of Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Laguna Beach, Berkeley and West Hollywood. Private employers that offer these benefits include such widely diverse corporations as Disney, IBM, JP Morgan, the law firm of Irell & Manella, Pacific Gas & Electric, Pacific Telesis Group, Perot Systems, Starbucks Coffee, Xerox and many others.
Despite this growing list, by far the majority of places of employment in California does not offer domestic partner benefits. One reason more employers have not chosen to provide this benefit is that there is no "neutral" or "third-party" way to declare, determine or verify domestic partner status. The employer who wishes to provide this benefit must unilaterally establish and maintain a record of domestic partners among his or her employees. Many employers are not willing to shoulder this burden and thus their employees are deprived of this important right.
Domestic partners also have a need for third-party verification of their status in other circumstances. For instance, if a person in a domestic partner relationship is seriously injured or ill, there may be no way for his or her partner to participate in making decisions regarding treatment if there is no statement evidencing the partnership on record in some neutral place. Similar issues could crop up with respect to jail visitation or other circumstances where one’s personal status must be established.
The County can mitigate this problem by establishing within the Registrar-Recorder’s Office a "Domestic Partner Registry." This Registry would allow any person living or working within the County to make his or her domestic partnership status a matter of public record. A person could file a statement of domestic partnership; amend that statement; or terminate that statement. The County Clerk would maintain these records and provide copies on request. The County Clerk would collect fees for the filing, amendment and termination of domestic partnership statements, which fees would be limited to the actual costs of administering the ordinance.
The County Counsel has opined that the County Clerk presently has the authority to maintain all records which are filed or deposited in her office pursuant to law. The County Counsel has drafted the attached ordinance to establish a domestic partnership registry and has indicated that the attached ordinance is approved as to form.
I, THEREFORE, MOVE that the attached ordinance adding Chapter 2.210 to Title 2 - Administration of the Los Angeles County Code to establish a domestic partnership registry, be adopted.
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