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Currently Minnesota local governments such as cities, counties and
school districts are prevented from offering domestic partner benefits
to their employees. OutFront Minnesota is trying to
change this.
This unusual state of affairs stemmed from a lawsuit which led to a
court ruling determining no local government could offer such benefits.
Background
In the early 1990s, the City of Minneapolis began offering unmarried
municipal employees the opportunity to secure benefits, such as health
coverage, for their unmarried partners in much the same way the city
offered such benefits to the married spouses of its employees.
A conservative taxpayer, James Lilly, filed suit against the city
arguing that it exceeded its authority in providing these benefits. The
case went all the way to the Minnesota Court of Appeals which ruled in
1995 (In Lilly v. City of Minneapolis, 527 N.W.2d 107 (Minn. App. 1995)
that local governments could not offer benefits that were not expressly
set forth in state law (Minn.
Stat. § 471.61). This state law allowed benefits exclusively for
local government employees, their spouses and children.
In 2007, the Minnesota legislature, working with OutFront Minnesota,
passed a bill to enable local governments to offer whatever benefits
they chose. However, this bill was vetoed by Governor Pawlenty.
In 2008, the bill is moving forward again.
Click here
for more.
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