FRANKFORT Ky.
A conservative public policy organization is asking Attorney General Greg Stumbo to provide another opinion on the constitutionality of domestic partner benefits at the University of Kentucky.
The Family Foundation of Kentucky is also considering asking for a court injunction to stop the university from implementing the benefits, which go into effect on Monday.
Stumbo’s office issued an opinion on June 1 questioning the constitutionality of the benefits of the plan. Assistant Attorney General James M. Herrick, who wrote the opinion, said the definition of “domestic partners” used by the University of Kentucky was problematic.
“The benefit is premised upon the recognition of a legal status in the two individuals that is substantially similar to marriage,” Herrick wrote.
UK reworked the plan in response to Herrick’s opinion. Under the rewritten rules, the university will allow employees to choose one “sponsored dependent” to receive benefits provided that person isn’t a relative, doesn’t already have insurance and has lived under the same roof as the employee for at least a year.
Although same-sex domestic partners would still be eligible at the same level as the original version, so too would any other adult or child even a roommate who lives in the house but doesn’t otherwise have health care.
