12
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APRIL 7. 2006__________________
northwest
Town Hall Debates Equal Benefits
Commissioner argues ordinance would benefit partners and families
by Jack Turteltaub
ome attending a town hall meeting
March 23 dedicated to Portland City
Commissioner Sam Adams’ proposed
equal benefits ordinance viewed it as a
HBF debate between advancing the city’s anti
discrimination agenda and shaking Portland’s anti
business reputation.
If the equal benefits ordinance passes, the same-
sex partner and family of a city contractor could
receive health care and other benefits as early as
January 2007. The ordinance would require private
businesses in construction, professional and techni
cal fields that contract with the city to provide the
same benefits to .domestic partners and their fami
lies that they provide to married employees and
their families.
With more than $300 million in annual city
contracts, the impact on straight, unmarried cou
ples and sexual minorities, whose relationships are
jiot legally recognized, could be significant.
“All of society benefits when two people decide
to make a life together,” said Adams. “Unfortunately,
the federal government places families in two cate
gories: those headed by a married couple and those
not headed by a married couple. The latter are treat
ed as second-class citizens.”
Portland would be the first jurisdiction in
Oregon to pass an equal benefits ordinance.
Jesse Beast^n, Adams' senior policy director, says
the city wants to work closely with contractors and
insurers to implement the ordinance in a way that
does not create unnecessary burdens for businesses.
Some critics say Portland is already perceived as
anti-business, so they believe the ordinance might
add to that reputation.
Advocates argue that the ordinance would
increase the overall quality of life, create more
equality of treatment for workers and might even
encourage some health insurers and private compa
nies to provide such benefits if they are not already
doing so. All these factors could add to Portland’s
fabled “livability.”
Adams notes that cities that strive to provide
equal benefits to all families are perceived as more
welcoming and in turn are more likely to draw “the
best and the brightest.”
Adams observes that in recent years Portland
has attracted many people in their 20s and early 30s
who are artists, musicians, technophiles and entre
preneurs, in large part due to the city’s reputation
as tolerant and supportive of diversity.
The town hall meeting was the city’s first public
forum to discuss the ordinance. Most of the 15 atten
dees represented health insurers or contractors.
Adams told participants that five of the eight
largest health insurers in the state already provide
domestic partner coverage to most large companies
that carry their policies. According to Adams, the
city is in negotiations with two of
the remaining insurers, including
Kaiser Permanente, to add domes
tic partner benefits.
The cost of the added benefits,
Adams argued, would he relatively
small. The tradeoff, he asserted, is
the basic fairness of the ordinance
and how it would advance the
Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams discusses the ordi
city’s nondiscrimination agenda
nance with senior policy director Jesse Beason.
and provide more health care to
would be applied. “The question I have is: Does this
people in need.
ordinance cover all the businesses that contract
The discussion was cordial and lacking in any
with the city? I think our members won’t have a
dramatic gestures. Ironically, there was no direct
problem as long as everybody has to follow the
mention of gay rights.
same rules.”
Sharon Nielson, a member of the city’s Small
Adams explained that the city by law can only
Business Advisory Council, said she likes the con
enforce ordinances with prime contractors, not sub
cept of the ordinance hut told Adams, “1 don’t
want this perceived hy some as another barrier to contractors that are hired by the former.
Adams, a fervent supporter of queer rights, reg
small businesses doing business with the city.” As a
istered an acute awareness of recent reverses for
business owner with only one employee, she is con
cerned about reinforcing the city’s recent efforts to Oregon’s sexual minority population. “It’s been a
tough 18 to 24 months for the gay community with
improve its relationship with small businesses,
the passage of Measure 36, the rejection of civil
including those bidding on public contracts.
unions and gay marriages. On the city level, this
Bill Martinak, president of the Oregon and
ordinance
is something we can do.’ ©
Southwest Washington chapter of the National
Utility Contractors Association, the trade associa
J ack T urteltaub is a Portland free-lance writer
tion for those who lay sewer pipes and power lines,
and psychotherapist.
was concerned about how fairly the ordinance
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