Domestic partner benefits urged

Some time ago, Dan Onorato asked Allegheny County's new-ish Human Relations Commission to give him a recommendation on issuing domestic partner benefits to county employees. It did so today, unanimously urging the county to do so. From the commission:

This morning, the Allegheny County Human Relations Commission, after appropriate discussion and by unanimous vote of the five members participating in the meeting, approved the following motion by The Honorable Cynthia Baldwin, seconded by Stephan Broadus:

Whereas the City of Pittsburgh has made domestic partner health benefits available to its employees for approximately a decade, and, Whereas in recent years benefits of this nature have been made available by other public employers including the Pittsburgh School District, Pennsylvania’s Court System, and many colleges and universities;  It is hereby resolved that the Commission recommends that Allegheny County take steps to make domestic partner benefits available to its employees.

Other members participating in today's meeting were Chairman Hugh McGough, Sara Davis Buss and Barbara Daly Danko.  Mark Nowak and La'Tasha Mayes were not present.

Here's some background on the issue from the City Paper.

UPDATE: A spokeswoman for Onorato says the administration is "very excited" that the commission has come back with the recommendation, and will go to work immediately on designing and implementing a benefits package.