1999 Legislation

1999 Session Enacted Bills that Affect LGBT Californians
Laws Took Effect January 1st, 2000
Compiled by: Eric Astacaan, eric.astacaan@asm.ca.gov

 

AB 26 (Chapter 588, Statutes of 1999), by Assemblymember Carole Migden, created a statewide domestic partnership registry within the Secretary of State.  Domestic partners would include same-sex couples (18 years and over) as well as unmarried opposite-sex couples over the age of 62.  The bill would provide hospital visitation rights between domestic partners and would provide state and local government employers the ability to offer health care coverage to the domestic partners of their employees and annuitants.

For more information about the domestic partnership registry forms and requirements, please contact the Special Filings Unit with the California Secretary of State, 1500 11th Street, Suite 345, Sacramento, CA 95814, (916) 653-3984.  Forms will also be available after January 1, 2000 with your local county clerk’s office or the Secretary of State’s web site: http://www.sos.ca.gov/.

 

AB 208 (Chapter 566, Statutes of 1999), by Assemblymember Wally Knox, would provide that the penalty for a defendant who is convicted of first-degree murder is life imprisonment without possibility of parole if the victim was intentionally killed because of the victim’s actual or perceived disability, gender or sexual orientation.

 

AB 537 (Chapter 598, Statutes of 1999), by Assemblymember Sheila Kuehl, amended the California Education Code’s general anti-discrimination and harassment provisions (Sections 200, 220, 66251, and 66270) to prohibit discrimination and harassment in the public schools and community colleges’ programs and activities “regardless of any basis that is contained in the prohibition of hate crimes set forth in Penal Code Section 422.6(a).”  By referencing the current hate crime statute, actual or perceived lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered students and staff are protected from discrimination and harassment in public schools and colleges.

For more information, please contact your school principal, your local school board district members and superintendent, or the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 721 Capitol Mall, Sacramento, CA 95814, Phone: 916-657-4766, Fax: 916-657-4975.  Please visit the Superintendent’s web site at http://www.cde.ca.gov/eo/.

 

AB 1001 (Chapter 592, Statutes of 1999), by Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, moved the provision prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation from the Labor Code to the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA).  In adding sexual orientation to FEHA, it codified existing case law prohibiting housing discrimination based on sexual orientation.

For more information, please contact the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH).

Employment:      1-800-884-1684 (Within California), 1-916-227-0551 (Outside California)
Housing:               1-800-233-3212 (Within California), 1-510-622-2945 (Outside California)
TTY:                      1-800-700-2320 (Within California)               Website: http://www.dfeh.ca.gov