City Council overrides Rocky's veto of benefits plan
Members prefer to offer benefits for more city employees
Before the 7-0 vote, several council members rebuffed the mayor's reasoning that the council's insurance plan, which offers city insurance to adult designees of city employees, sidestepped issues of discrimination based on sexual orientation.
"True equality is achieved when every employee's needs and living situation are recognized," said Councilwoman Jill Remington Love, a member of the subcommittee that drafted the ordinance. "What we did as a council is work for six months drafting legislation that we believe would withstand the court test and stand Legislative agendas."
Anderson vetoed the Council's plan Tuesday in a statement that said his executive order from September should stand until its legality can be determined. Eight days after Anderson signed the order that extended insurance to unmarried partners of hetero- and homosexual city employees, an Arizona religious law group and several Salt Lake residents sued. They claimed that the mayor's action violated Utah marriage laws by creating a different class of marriage. The parties are to meet today to discuss the lawsuit's status.
"If someone really cares about covering people on insurance, they couldn't accept Rocky Anderson's plan over that of the City Council's," Mylar said.
Council members emphasized Thursday that they wanted to provide insurance to as many people as possible — the council's plan would cover between 58 and 96 people, but the mayor's plan would have covered 10 to 22 people.
"This is about solutions, not symbols," said Dave Buhler, the council chairman. "We're taking substantive action that really helps people. We started and ended with the same basic questions: How do we treat every employee of Salt Lake City as fairly and equitably as possible?"
Anderson said in his veto statement that the council's plan created a category of adult designees but didn't extend the benefit fairly to city employees — married employees could not add an additional adult to their insurance plans.
"The mayor is disappointed with the council's ruling on the benefits ordinance," said Patrick Thronson, the mayor's spokesman. "It's unfortunate that the council did not address one of the central points of the mayor's statement of objections: that the council's plan creates a new benefit, and does not extend that benefit equally to all employees."
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