A controversial bill to give same-sex and senior-citizen heterosexual domestic partners virtually all the rights and responsibilities of married couples was voted out of committee 7-4 earlier today over the objections of Republicans. The bill, SB 5688, has already cleared the Senate.

Local Rep. Matt Shea, R-Mead, was one of the no votes, saying that he worried that the changes in the bill would cost the state millions of dollars. Voting yes was local Rep. Timm Ormsby, D-Spokane.

State Rep. Charles Ross, R-Naches, said that he feels the proposal should be sent to the ballot for a decision by voters. He said he feels that advocates are winning "on a technicality" rather than taking it to the public.

"My district is contacting me more on this bill than on any other bill," said Ross.

Committee chairman Jamie Pedersen, a Seattle Democrat who is gay, said that most of the projected cost of the bill stems from changes in the health care benefits of heterosexual couples who have registered. And those costs, he said, are likely much lower than projected.

The bill would not allow same-sex marriage. (A bill that would have, HB 1727, died early in Pedersen's committee.) Critics -- more than 2,000 of whom showed up last week for a rally at the state capitol -- maintain that 5688 will provide a legal framework for a court challenge that does lead to same-sex marriage.

Petersen and other gay lawmakers have said that marriage equality remains the eventual goal, but that the state is not ready for that yet. And SB 5688, they say, will provide key protections, such as allowing the partner of a dead police officer or teacher to get pension benefits they're now denied.

"I don't think we can as a state achieve equality of treatment...until we achieve full access to marriage," Pedersen told fellow lawmakers today. "But I don't think we have a consensus or anything near it at this point. In the meantime, we have families that need protection."

---

---