University of Wisconsin officials told a crowd of community members Tuesday that domestic partner benefit legislation has so far been met with approval in Wisconsin as a result of major change in the national political climate.
In his February budget address, Gov. Jim Doyle included a plan that would make domestic partnership benefits a reality for same-sex couples. This plan would enable and fund some benefits traditionally reserved for heterosexual couples for all state employees, including those at UW.
The town hall meeting Tuesday expounded upon the controversial new statute and answered questions by staff, students and community members alike.
The event was co-hosted by the Wisconsin Coalition for Domestic Partner Benefits, the Associated Students of Madison and the Domestic Partner Health Insurance Task Force.
According to Steve Stern, associate vice chancellor for faculty and staff, who moderated the meeting, the primary motive behind this plan is fairness and competitiveness with respect to the quality of health care.
“Everybody ought to have access to health insurance, and the employees in our community need to have non-discriminatory benefits packages for members of their household,” Stern said.
UW is currently the only Big Ten university that does not provide domestic partnership benefits. Numerous former UW employees have cited the lack of these provisions as a reason for their departure. There is strong community and campus support surrounding this issue.
Don Nelson, lobbyist from the UW Office of State Relations, put the idea into perspective by detailing the actual text of the proposal.
According to Nelson, the main focal point of the proposal is to provide eligibility for health insurance coverage and add the term “domestic partner” in addition to the word “spouse” in each statute.
Also under this provision, domestic partners would have the same rights to retirement benefits as a married couple.
However, according to Nelson, the real question of its potential to succeed is “What’s it going to cost?”
After evaluating budgets from other universities in the Big Ten, a cost projection was formed that, according to Stern, is low-cost but high-impact modest proposal. The total cost if the benefits are put into action is $600,000. Of that, the government only has to assume approximately 20 percent of the cost, which translates to $120,000.
Stern and other supporters hope the proposal will reach the Legislature by Memorial Day. He added the expected date for the bill to pass is Aug. 1, which would put the plan into effect by January 2010. However, if complications arise and the bill goes into a conference committee, the next potential date to start provisions would be January 2011.
