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Rockland County Legislature Approves Domestic Partner Benefits for County Employees
New York City, February 18, 2004 -- The Rockland County Legislature voted to extend health benefits to domestic partners of county employees by a vote of 9 - 4. The measure must be approved within 30 days by County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef to become law. Local supporters of the legislation expect this to occur, given the County Executive’s history of support for Rockland’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
“This act by Rockland County recognizes that all employees deserve equal benefits for equal work,” said Alan Van Capelle, Executive Director of the Empire State Pride Agenda, the state’s LGBT equal rights organization. “We praise the County Legislature for approving this measure. We also want to thank the bill’s two co-sponsors – Ellen Jaffee (D, District 12) and Gerold Bierker (R, District 9) -- for all their hard work. Ellen Jaffee has been fighting for this legislation for a long time and Gerold Bierker provided the bipartisan support that helped make a difference.”
Stonewall Democrats in Rockland County worked closely with proponents of domestic partner benefits in the Legislature to build support for the bill’s passage. Jerry Goodman with Stonewall Democrats said after the vote, “This is a wonderful day for the LGBT community in Rockland County. We’re glad our Legislature recognizes that all Rockland County employees and their families need to be supported equally.”
The Rockland County Legislature is composed of 17 members. A majority vote is required to pass legislation. Three members were absent for Tuesday’s vote, including cosponsor Gerold Bierker who was out sick. Despite this, a majority of nine came together to give the measure the support it needed.
Pending County Executive Vanderhoef’s signature, Rockland County will join a growing number of localities across the state in offering DP benefits, including New York City, Tompkins County, City of Rochester, Albany County, City of Albany, Town of Ithaca, Westchester County, Nassau County and a number of smaller towns such as Brighton, Greenburgh, Eastchester, Summit and Port Jefferson. The state of New York extended DP benefits to state employees early in Governor Pataki’s first term and in 2000 Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno allowed the last branch of state government without DP benefits, the State Senate, to receive them.
To a large degree, however, the public sector has lagged behind the private sector in providing DP benefits. In 1990, no Fortune 500 company offered insurance for domestic partners. As of last year, however, 211 companies, or 42%, offered this benefit
For employers, DP benefits have increasingly become an issue of competitiveness. While enrollment rises are usually only around 1% and never over 2%, with an associated cost rise in the same range, higher retention rates and lower hiring and training costs usually offset these small increases. For same-sex couples, unable to get married, DP benefits are also seen as a workplace fairness issue. Benefits are part of a person’s total compensation package and not having access to a benefit intended for all has long meant that LGBT employees have worked at lower levels of compensation that their married colleagues performing identical workplace responsibilities.
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Founded in 1990, the Empire State Pride Agenda is New York's statewide civil rights organization committed to achieving full equality and justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) New Yorkers and our families. The Pride Agenda fights for these objectives by: educating the public, elected officials and policymakers; building coalitions and mobilizing allies; and, organizing and empowering the LGBT community. Victories include the enactment of statewide sexual orientation non-discrimination and hate crimes laws, the repeal of the consensual sodomy statute, and winning more than $12.5 million in state funds for LGBT health and human services statewide. Other victories include the passage of local non-discrimination measures in Westchester County, Nassau County, Suffolk County, and Buffalo, the enactment of a transgender non-discrimination law in NYC, and the enactment of a series of state laws, regulations, and private relief initiatives that provided equal benefits to LGBT surviving partners of 9/11 victims. With thousands of supporters, the Pride Agenda has offices in NYC and Albany and is the largest statewide LGBT organization in the country.
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