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New Jersey Senate to Weigh Measure on Same-Sex Unions By LAURA MANSNERUS, NYTimes on the Web, January 8, 2004 TRENTON, Jan. 7 — A measure that would establish legal recognition and expand benefits for same-sex couples is expected to undergo intense debate on Thursday in the New Jersey State Senate. Both Democrats and Republicans say the legislation will win approval, and Gov. James E. McGreevey wants to sign it before the Legislature convenes on Tuesday, a spokesman said. But opponents protest that the measure is socially and legally far-reaching and is being pushed through a lame-duck session without public debate or legislative hearings. The Assembly approved the measure by a single vote on Dec. 11. The bill would allow same-sex couples and heterosexual couples over age 62 to register as domestic partners. It would grant each partner the right to visit the other in the hospital and to make medical decisions for that partner. While the bill would not require employers to provide health benefits to domestic partners, it would extend health insurance and pension coverage to the partners of state workers and mandates that insurance carriers offer health care coverage. New Jersey would be the fifth state to recognize some form of domestic partnership. Vermont recognizes civil unions, extending virtually all the benefits of marriage, while Hawaii has a more limited domestic partner registry. California has enacted legislation similar to New Jersey's. In Massachusetts, the State Supreme Court ruled in November that gay couples have a right to marry, though the Legislature has not acted. The New Jersey legislation applies to couples who have "chosen to share each other's lives in a committed relationship of mutual caring" and, excepting those over 62, are unable to marry in New Jersey. To obtain domestic-partner status, a couple would have to share a residence and show proof of joint financial arrangements or property ownership or designation of the partner as the beneficiary in a will or retirement plan. The bill would not extend joint property laws to domestic partners, however, or apply to them any of the legal rights or obligations toward children born during a marriage. Mr. McGreevey has opposed same-sex marriage, but the domestic partnership legislation is "an important part of his agenda," his press secretary, Micah Rasmussen, said. Still, opponents contend that the distinctions are slim. The New Jersey Catholic Conference, in a letter to state senators on Wednesday, said the legislation was endorsing cohabitation outside marriage in a "radical departure from the historic definition of marriage." The measure has only Democratic sponsors, but is supported by some Republicans, including the Republican co-president of the Senate, John O. Bennett. The Democratic co-president, Richard J. Codey, is the primary sponsor. In the Assembly, two Republicans voted for the bill and eight abstained, while four Democrats opposed it. The Assembly approved the legislation a month after the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that under the state's Constitution, same-sex couples have a right to marry. A lower court in New Jersey rejected that argument. The new law would not affect that case, now on appeal.
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