Last night, Pflugerville ISD voted to approve insurance benefits for domestic partners. This makes Pflugerville the first school district in Texas to offer domestic partner health benefits.
The school board voted 5 to 1 to uphold the district’s October decision. The district now joins the cities of Austin, San Antonio and El Paso, along with Dallas County, in offering domestic partner benefits for its employees. But State Senator Dan Patrick has asked Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to issue an opinion on whether these policies are valid.
In 2005, Texas voters passed an amendment to the state constitution defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
Richard Carlson is a law professor at South Texas College of Law. He says the sticking point for domestic partner benefits may be the portion of the amendment that says no political entity in Texas may create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage.
"That's a major challenge for an employer in a situation like this," Carlson says. "How do you define the relationship so that it's serious enough that you'd want to extend these benefits? You wouldn't necessarily offer these benefits to anybody who just happened to have had a recent date with one of your employees. You'd probably want something like proof of cohabitation."
Even if Attorney General Abbott issues an opinion, it carries little legal weight, although it could discourage other jurisdictions from enacting such policies.
Still, depending on the Supreme Court's decision on same-sex marriage, the entire question may become a moot point.
