Source: Arizona Republic
Public response has been widely supportive of a plan to expand state benefits to domestic partners of state employees, judging from roughly 1,400 e-mails, letters and faxes received by the Arizona Department of Administration.

Department spokesman Alan Ecker called it "an extraordinary amount of comment" that was received by the agency during a 30-day window allowed for public response to the proposal late last year.

In short, it would allow state employees with domestic partners, gay or straight, to claim the same benefits as married couples. The biggest benefit among those perks is coverage under the state health plan.

The benefits expansion was proposed in November by Department of Administration Director William Bell and has the backing of Gov. Janet Napolitano.

In opposition are social conservatives, led by the Center for Arizona Policy.

Public feedback generally fell into two broad categories:
 Supporters who view the benefits expansion as a matter of fairness and a means for the state to better compete for employees with the private sector and the more than a dozen states that already offer domestic-partner benefits.
 Opponents who see the proposal as a threat to traditional marriage between one man and one woman and those who question the budgetary impact at a time when the state is facing a string of years with billion-dollar shortfalls.

UA President Robert Shelton noted in a letter that his institution and Arizona State University are the only PAC-10 schools that don't provide domestic-partner benefits.

"These are our prime competitors for faculty," he wrote, "and the decision by the state to allow domestic-partner benefits will greatly enhance our ability to be competitive against these national peers in recruiting and retaining top faculty and staff."

The Department of Administration estimates that the benefits expansion would bring 315 to 850 new individuals under state coverage at a cost of up to $4.5 million in its first year. Those additional costs, the agency says, could be offset with benefits savings in other areas.

The benefits-expansion proposal will next be presented to the Governor's Regulatory Review Council, a six-member board appointed by Napolitano.

The hearing, which will allow public testimony, will likely come in March or April. If approved, the change would take effect Oct. 1.

Full article: Domestic partner benefits plan gains support

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