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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR McSorely

DATE TYPED 02/21/05 HB

SHORT TITLE Domestic Partners Rights & Responsibility Act

SB 576

ANALYST Ford

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained Estimated Additional Impact Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY05

FY06

FY05

FY06

Indeterminate –

See Narrative

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

REVENUE

Estimated Revenue

Subsequent

Years Impact

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY05

FY06

Indeterminate –

See Narrative

Recurring

Children’s Trust

Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)

Relates to

HB 86, HB 445, SB 597, SJR 18

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)

Attorney General (AGO)

Corrections Department (NMCD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 576 enacts the Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act, providing to do-

Senate Bill 576 -- Page 2

mestic partners the same rights, protections, and benefits, as well as responsibilities, obligations,

and duties, under law as spouses in marriage. These include, among others, rights and obliga-

tions related to child support, protections and responsibilities relating to survivorship, as well as

parental rights and obligations.

The term “domestic partner” is defined as “an adult who has chosen to share in another adult’s

life in an intimate and committed relationship of mutual caring and who has established a domes-

tic partnership.” The bill makes no distinction between same-sex relationships and heterosexual

relationships.

The bill provides that domestic partners shall use the same filing status for state income taxes, as

is used on their federal income tax return. Earned income shall not be treated as community

property for state income tax purposes.

The bill gives the district court jurisdiction over proceedings relating to the dissolution of a do-

mestic partnership, nullity of a domestic partnership and legal separation of a domestic partner-

ship, which shall follow the same procedures as those applicable to spouses in a marriage.

Senate Bill 576 provides the process and requirements for establishing a domestic partnership. A

domestic partnership is established when it is licensed with the county clerk and recorded in the

record of domestic partnership. To obtain a license, the potential domestic partners shall be at

least 18 years old, capable of consenting, not married to another and not in another domestic

partnership, not related by blood in a way that would prevent marriage, and share a common

residence immediately upon becoming licensed. The required fee for the license is $25 with $15

going to the state’s children’s trust fund.

Applicants for a domestic partnership license must complete an application for and affidavit of

domestic partnership and pay the required fee. After the application is notarized, the county

clerk shall issue a domestic partnership license and mail it to the domestic partners, who shall

return the license to be recorded within 90 days of the date of the affidavit. The license shall

provide an area for the signature of 2 witnesses

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

Senate Bill 576 requires county clerks to charge a $25 fee for each domestic partnership license

issued and record, $15 of which will be transmitted to the children’s trust fund. This fee and its

disposition is the same as that for marriage licenses. This would generate an indeterminate reve-

nue increase for the children’s trust fund, as well as provide revenue to the county clerks to off-

set their costs.

The bill would also result in indeterminate cost increases to the courts for judicial proceedings

related to domestic partnerships. Other state agencies may incur costs to update their policies

and procedures to account for domestic partnerships.

There may be other factors that that will have an off-setting and indeterminate fiscal impact. For

example, if a domestic partnership is dissolved and one partner is required to pay child support, it

may decrease the chances that the other partner and his/her child will require public assistance;

however, it may also increase costs to agencies that enforce child support requirements.

Senate Bill 576 -- Page 3

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

House Bill 86 defines domestic partnership and allows domestic partners to purchase health in-

surance and life insurance policies.

House Bill 445 and Senate Bill 597 seek to define marriage in statute as a contract between one

man and one woman. Senate Joint Resolution 18 seeks to add a new section to the state constitu-

tion providing that the only marriages recognized by the state, regardless of where performed,

would be those between one man and one woman. Some may feel that Senate Bill 576 conflicts

with these measures by extending marriage provisions to domestic partnerships, while others

may argue that the bill conforms to these measures by establishing a contract other than marriage

for same-sex couples.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

As the AOC notes, there may be an unnecessary step in the process of issuing a domestic part-

nership license. The bill requires the domestic partners to make an application for a license,

which must be notarized. Then a separate license is issue and mailed to the partners for their

signature and the signature of two witnesses. The domestic partners then mail the license back to

the county clerk for recording. The bill does not require that any ceremony take place confirm-

ing the domestic partnership. Is it necessary for this process to occur in two stages or could the

application/affidavit and the license be combined into one document.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

According to the AGO, several other states have enacted laws recognizing domestic partnerships,

including California, New Jersey, Maine, Hawaii and Vermont. Massachusetts has legalized

same-sex marriage through judicial decision.

EF/lg