Momentum Continues in Nevada
July 1, 2009
Last month, as you may recall, advocates for equality in Nevada accomplished something very few people thought they could. They generated the grasstops and grassroots support needed to flip two votes in the state Assembly and two in the state Senate (all Republicans) to override Governor Jim Gibbons’ veto of the Domestic Partnership bill – making Nevada the 15th state (or district in the case of Washington, D.C.) to offer some form of same-sex relationship recognition. During that battle and in order to avoid a fiscal note on the bill, proponents had to make the inclusion of health benefits a voluntary action on the part of the employer and not mandatory. This meant that the state of Nevada was not required to offer health benefits to its employees, which caused concern among some activists. That concern was alleviated yesterday when the Public Employees’ Benefits Program Board voted 5-3 to extend benefits to domestic partners. The move was championed by HRC’s very own Jeff Garofalo, a member of our Board of Governors from Nevada, who serves on the PEBP Board. This was a good step in the right direction, but as with most advancement in our movement, this one is not perfect. To obtain the health care coverage, domestic partners will be required to pay the full monthly coverage rate of $760 without any subsidy. This is because the legislature refused to approve $3.7 million in additional funds to the state budget to cover subsidies for domestic partners. Subsidies are provided to all other spouses of state employees, reducing their costs to around $200 per month. So while the legislature failed to allocate funds this year, there are plenty of signs that Nevada continues to move in the right direction on the road to equality.
