A Busy Month for Sacramento!

by Dae Elliott

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed seven of the eight bills supporting LGBT Californians and their families. These laws will go into effect next year and we will have more protections and rights than ever before according to EQCA Executive Director Geoff Kors. Unfortunately, the governor did vetoed the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act (AB 43), authored by Assembly member Mark Leno, D-San Francisco. AB 43 would have given same-sex couples the option to marry despite receiving in excess of 15,000 signature of support from California’s Equality petition drive.

Of the bills signed, three of the measures will enhance protection of students in public schools and youth in California’s juvenile justice facilities. Two emphasized teachers’ and school administrators’ responsibilities to enforce those protections for all California students while the juvenile justice bill outlined a bill of rights and provided a hotline for those youths that felt their rights were being violated. These three bills were authored by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, Assembly member Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, and Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco.

The other bills signed allow domestic partners to choose a common family name when they register with the state and will simplify the process for domestic partners filing joint state income tax returns in 2008. These measures were authored by Assembly member Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco and Sen. Migden, respectively. Additionally, the EQCA’s Civil Rights Act of 2007 is part of a multi-year overhaul of the state’s civil rights laws. AB 14, authored by Assembly member John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, strengthens and clarifies 51 provisions in state law to prohibit bias based on race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, medical condition, marital status, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation. And finally the Fair and Equal Taxation for Surviving Partners Act, authored by Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego ends tax increases for domestic partners who separated or lost a partner before a 2006 law went into effect protecting them against unfair property reassessments.

Keep the momentum going! We are coming up on an election cycle and now is the time we can make the difference by staying informed, being involved and voting!