As they have indeed been doing for the past several years. There are two more in the pipeline, now. Hopefully, Arnold will veto these as well. Today's action should be lauded, but the fight has only begun, IMO. A lot of damage has already been done.
San Diego Union-Tribune, September 2, 2005
The state passed its first domestic partnership law in 1999 and then broadened it in 2003. The law grants registered same-sex couples many of the rights and responsibilities of marriage, including child-custody rights and obligations. Some partnerships have to be dissolved in family courts.San Diego Union-Tribune, August 30, 2005California's Supreme Court also ruled last month that same-sex parents have the same rights and obligations as other parents.
Officials from Equality California also expect the Legislature to pass a bill by state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, that would extend death benefits to partners of public employees who retired before the domestic partnership law was expanded this year to include death benefits.Under the legislation, Senate Bill 973, a retired public employee's partner could elect to have death benefits equivalent to those of a spouse if the partner can prove he or she was in a partnership with the public employee.
Last year, Equality California sponsored several bills to end discrimination, including one that required any insurance company that covered spouses in its policies to also cover domestic partners, and another that toughened hate-crime laws.
All those bills were signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the group said. The governor did, however, veto legislation that would have set up a commission that would look into building a war memorial to gay and lesbian veterans.