Cal State OKs Benefits for Partners

The California State University Board of Trustees on Wednesday voted unanimously to extend health benefits to the same-sex partners of university employees and to opposite-sex “domestic partners” 62 or older.

The trustees’ approval was needed before any of Cal State’s 40,000 employees could sign up with the California secretary of state to qualify for same-sex health benefits beginning in February. Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill last month authorizing the California Public Employees’ Retirement System to extend health benefits to same-sex couples, as well as to older heterosexual couples who collect Social Security.

In an unrelated matter, Davis on Tuesday filled two of five openings on Cal State’s 24-member board.

The new trustees are Roberta Achtenberg, a senior vice president of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and former assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Debra S. Farar, who was an education policy advisor to Davis when he was lieutenant governor. Farar also serves on the board overseeing the Funds for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education and on the grant advisory committee of the California Student Aid Commission.