City Council Weighs 3 Options To Address Domestic Benefits Issue
The voice of the people overturned.
That’s what could happen Tuesday if El Paso City Council follows through on a repeal of the controversial partner benefits ordinance. It’s a move could have huge consequences.
It was a broadly worded initiative voters approved two weeks ago and that broad language ended up putting another 200 people at risk of losing benefits. City Council ratified the election results last week which makes the initiative an ordinance, now. If City Council takes no action , the ordinance will go into effect on Jan. 1.
That has put the city and proponents of the ordinance in a tough predicament.
“It could have been plain and simple, that we do not want to provide benefits for domestic partners, the end,” El Paso City Manager Joyce Wilson said.
But it wasn’t.
One option is for City Council to repeal the ordinance.
“Legislators around the country have the ability to overturn bad legislation,” Wilson said.
The other two options are to rescind and replace the ordinance or to let it stand as is.
“All three have consequences,” Wilson said.
Those consequences include lawsuits and maybe even recall elections for some City Council members.
“Do I want to see individual council members hurt by a principled stance? No, because I think it’s a very good City Council,” Wilson said.
Pastor Tom Brown, who headed El Pasoans for Traditional Family Values which pushed for the ballot initiative, said this has become much more than a gay rights issue. He said it’s a matter of democracy and the voice for the people.
“Well, I don’t know if it’s a voice of the people because if go back and look at the votes taken, there are 11,000 people who voted who didn’t vote for this particular initiative,” Wilson said. “Many of them didn’t vote because they weren’t familiar with it and they didn’t understand the way it was worded.”
Wilson also said a non-discrimination policy may have been introduced by a previous City Council. If so, it could be applied if a new ordinance is crafted.
Tuesday’s vote is only a preliminary vote. Final action is not expected until Nov. 30.
Last year, City Council approved the domestic partners policy, extending health benefits to domestic partners of city employees.
Nineteen employees received the benefits this year at a cost of less than $30,000 to taxpayers. The special election for this proposition two weeks ago cost about $130,000. Last week, city attorneys told City Council the ordinance would also affect some city retirees and children and grandchildren of city employees that aren’t considered dependents by the federal government.
Tell City Council how you feel by clicking on the names below to call or email the mayor or city representatives to let them know how you feel about this issue:
