HB 444 Civil Unions

[Bob Orts]

From my reading, Reciprocal Beneficiary is a statement of your intentions, but there is no legal requirement that anyone public or private recognizes it. Civil Union is a legal status that confers certain rights under the law that can not be taken away.

Example, you work for a private company, they decide to offer group family medical to any employee who is legally married. A Reciprocal Beneficiary can not force the company to provide benefits to the partner, because it has no legal rights attached. Now that employee decides to be progressive and offers medical to partners, but they don't want any one to suddenly claim their neighbor as a partner so they demand proof of the relationship. The Reciprocal Beneficiary filing will satisfy that requirement. Now the company is purchased by RWCRWM Inc and they take away that benefit. Those that are married get to keep family coverage; those under a Reciprocal Beneficiary statement will lose the coverage. However, under HB-444, an official civil union bears the same weight as a marriage as far as the status of the individuals, so all benefits attached to marriage attaches to civil union.