LANSING -- Many government employers in Michigan will be barred from providing health care benefits to the domestic partners of public employees under legislation signed by Gov. Rick Snyder on Thursday.Snyder said the prohibition will not apply to employees of the state public universities or to state government employees.
The measure does apply to municipal and school employees, and to homosexual and heterosexual couples alike. It was primarily aimed at ending the practice of providing benefits to same-sex couples, which was adopted by a handful of cities, schools and most of the state's public universities after the adoption of the state's one-man, one-woman marriage amendment in 2004.
Snyder had been under pressure from gay rights activists and others to veto the bill.
But lead sponsor Rep. David Agema, R-Grandville, praised the governor's decision, saying, "Time and again, Michigan residents have said 'no' to paying for the health benefits of the roommates and unmarried partners of public employees, and the governor's signature today gives the people's voice the rule of law."
Kary Moss, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, called the statute "mean-spirited and cruel." A lawsuit on behalf of "families who will lose their health protections" will be forthcoming, she said.
Supporters of the legislation in the House had insisted it would extend to Michigan's public universities, the largest providers of domestic partner benefits in the state.
Snyder's statement said the autonomy granted universities under the state constitution precluded the Legislature from enacting regulations about the provision of benefits to university employees.
Of Michigan's public universities, only Lake Superior State University doesn't offer some form of domestic partner benefits for employees, according to the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan.
By Dawson Bell
Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau
