Two big wins in DC

by: Adam Bink

Tue Nov 10, 2009 at 15:45

Today, the Committee on Public Safety & Judiciary (part of the DC Council) passed legislation legalizing same-sex marriage equality, 4-1. The committee legislation also retained the ability to register for new domestic partnerships, which was the one big part of the bill I didn't like. There are some gay couples who don't believe in the term marriage but need to have the rights that come with it. There are also heterosexual individuals who benefit- I know two sisters living together who are both single and  heterosexual, but want each other to have, for example, medical decision rights. The original draft of the bill phased this out but Councilmember Catania and Chairman Mendelson wisely put them back in.

The bill will be put on the agenda for the Committee of the Whole on Nov. 17th and a full Council vote will take place on Dec. 1st, with a second vote to take place on either Dec. 15th or Jan. 5th. The bill is then sent to the Mayor, who has two weeks to act. He is fully expected to sign, and in the case of the law recognizing marriages from outside DC, he signed it on the same day.

Then the 30-day legislative review process begins. This is complicated, but a legislative day is any day that a house of Congress is in session. If it's a three-day weekend because of a holiday, all three days count. If it's more than three days, the Monday and Tuesday doesn't count. It gets even more fun, but the point is that the 30-day process next year should take about 2.5 months.

The real obstacle is in the budget process. With the 30-day thing, it takes a joint resolution of Congress, and a signature by the President, to prevent an act of Congress from becoming law- extremely unlikely. The 30-day thing is more of a delay than an obstacle. With the budget process, because Congress controls our purse strings, Congress can restrict enactment of the law through the DC Appropriations bill. They've done so in the past with DC's needle exchange law, preventing funds from being used to actually implement the law. That will be up for debate next summer and fall and where we are likely to have a fight on our hands. But unless a different effect date is added to the bill, it will become a law when the review period ends early next year.

Overall, things are moving forward well here.