Councilman Wants City To Favor Companies Who Offer Domestic Partner Benefits

LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA - First District City Councilman Robert Garcia wants the city of Long Beach to seek contracts with companies that offer equal spousal benefits packages for straight and gay employees.
Garcia has placed on next Tuesday's council meeting agenda a request that the city attorney draft an equal benefits ordinance.
It would require companies that offer spousal benefits to include domestic partnerships in order to get city contracts.
"Everyone deserves equal treatment in the workplace," Garcia, who is openly gay, said in a statement released Wednesday.
"This is an important step forward for equality and civil rights in Long Beach."
Second District Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal is co-sponsoring the ordinance.
The Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce released a statement Wednesday saying that it is "neutral" on the ordinance.
While Chamber officials say they support Garcia taking action on his convictions and note that such ordinances are common in California, they also say that the ordinance may put extra burdens on businesses.
"Business is simply unable to sustain increased governmental expense requirements in the current recessionary environment," the Chamber statement says.
Randy Gordon, the Chamber's president and CEO, couldn't be reached for further comment Wednesday.
The state of California already has an equal benefits ordinance in place, as do other large cities
including Los Angeles, Oakland, Seattle, San Francisco, Portland and Minneapolis, according to Garcia.
Garcia responded Wednesday that the ordinance won't hurt businesses and is "a natural progression" of Long Beach's support for equal rights.
Not all businesses will even be affected by the law, he said.
"This only applies to businesses that offer spousal benefits, which essentially excludes almost all small businesses and small contractors," Garcia said.
Long Beach's ordinance would include other exceptions as well, such as in the case of a public emergency or if there are too few companies that offer a particular service to allow selectivity based on benefits.
Erik Sund, the city's business relations manager, said he didn't know how many of Long Beach's contractors would be affected by the law.
"We haven't really done any hard data valuation of our existing vendor population," Sund said, noting that companies that already have contracts with the city won't be affected by the ordinance until the next time they bid.
In addition to some exemptions, the law also will include an "in lieu" option for businesses to provide money to employees for health care costs until an equal spousal benefits program is implemented.
Sund said this would allow them to continue with the city's bidding process and would help Long Beach keep contractors on the table.
"I feel confident that we have a number of tools in place that won't restrict competition or our selection," Sund said.
Paul Duncan, co-chairman of the Long Beach Community Business Network, which is a networking and support organization for gay and lesbian businesses, said that he can't speak for his organization but that he supports the equal benefits ordinance.
"I think we should be entitled to the same (rights) as married couples, so it wouldn't put more of a burden (on businesses) than if we were a straight couple," said Duncan.
Kim Woods, executive director of the LGBT non-profit The Center Long Beach, put her support behind the proposed ordinance.
"We are thrilled that Councilmember Garcia has proposed this historic ordinance," Woods said in a statement. "The LGBT community is united in supporting this important measure."
from The Press Telegram