Maryland General Assembly 2008 - Domestic Partnership Action

The McFreeds report...

The following was taken from Equality Maryland's web site summarizing the two bills that passed the Maryland General Assembly this year pertaining to domestic partnerships. Once signed, these will definitely helpd us with our current goals.

The General Assembly approved two measures that were passed in 2005 but vetoed by Gov. Ehrlich.

Senate Bill 566, sponsored by Senator Robert Garagiola and cross-filed by Delegate James Hubbard, provides 11 protections to domestic partners. These include the right to visit one another in the hospital, share a room in a nursing home and to make funeral decisions for each other. The legislative sponsors and leadership, in particular Health and Government Operations Committee Chair Pete Hammen, invested a significant amount of effort to work with Equality Maryland to ensure passage of the bill.

Senate Bill 597, sponsored by Senator Rona Kramer and cross-filed by Delegate Anne Kaiser, adds "domestic partners" to the list of family members a person can add or remove from the deed of their home without paying recordation and transfer fees and taxes.

Both bills are headed to the Governor [O'Malley]'s desk; he is expected to sign them. The measures will go into effect on July 1, 2008.