II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3955 

To provide benefits to domestic partners of Federal employees. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 27, 2006 

Mr. LIEBERMAN (for himself, Mr. SMITH, Mr. AKAKA, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. 

CHAFEE, Mrs. CLINTON, Mr. DAYTON, Mr. FEINGOLD, Mr. JEFFORDS, 

Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. KERRY, Mr. LAUTENBERG, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. LEVIN, 

Mrs. MURRAY, and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide benefits to domestic partners of Federal 

employees. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Domestic Partnership 

5 Benefits and Obligations Act of 2006’’. 

6 SEC. 2. BENEFITS TO DOMESTIC PARTNERS OF FEDERAL 

7 EMPLOYEES. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—An employee who has a domestic 

9 partner and the domestic partner of the employee shall 


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1 be entitled to benefits available to and obligations imposed 

2 upon a married employee and the spouse of the employee. 

3 (b) CERTIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY.—In order to ob4 tain benefits and assume obligations under this Act, an 

5 employee shall file an affidavit of eligibility for benefits 

6 and obligations with the Office of Personnel Management 

7 identifying the domestic partner of the employee and certi8 fying that the employee and the domestic partner of the 

9 employee— 

10 (1) are each other’s sole domestic partner and 

11 intend to remain so indefinitely; 

12 (2) have a common residence, and intend to 

13 continue the arrangement; 

14 (3) are at least 18 years of age and mentally 

15 competent to consent to contract; 

16 (4) share responsibility for a significant meas17 ure of each other’s common welfare and financial ob18 ligations; 

19 (5) are not married to or domestic partners 

20 with anyone else; 

21 (6) understand that willful falsification of infor22 mation within the affidavit may lead to disciplinary 

23 action and the recovery of the cost of benefits re24 ceived related to such falsification and may con25 stitute a criminal violation; and 


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1 (7) are same sex domestic partners, and not re2 lated in a way that, if the 2 were of opposite sex, 

3 would prohibit legal marriage in the State in which 

4 they reside. 

5 (c) DISSOLUTION OF PARTNERSHIP.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—An employee or domestic 

7 partner of an employee who obtains benefits under 

8 this Act shall file a statement of dissolution of the 

9 domestic partnership with the Office of Personnel 

10 Management not later than 30 days after the death 

11 of the employee or the domestic partner or the date 

12 of dissolution of the domestic partnership. 

13 (2) DEATH OF EMPLOYEE.—In a case in which 

14 an employee dies, the domestic partner of the em15 ployee at the time of death shall receive under this 

16 Act such benefits as would be received by the spouse 

17 of an employee. 

18 (3) OTHER DISSOLUTION OF PARTNERSHIP.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—In a case in which a 

20 domestic partnership dissolves by a method 

21 other than death of the employee or domestic 

22 partner of the employee, any benefits received 

23 by the domestic partner as a result of this Act 

24 shall terminate. 


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1 (B) EXCEPTION.—In a case in which a do2 mestic partnership dissolves by a method other 

3 than death of the employee or domestic partner 

4 of the employee, any health benefits received by 

5 the domestic partner as a result of this Act 

6 shall continue for a period of 60 days after the 

7 date of the dissolution of the partnership. The 

8 domestic partner shall pay for such benefits in 

9 the same manner that a former spouse would 

10 pay for such benefits under applicable provi11 sions of chapter 89 of title 5, United States 

12 Code. 

13 (d) CONFIDENTIALITY.—Any information submitted 

14 to the Office of Personnel Management under subsection 

15 (b) shall be used solely for the purpose of certifying an 

16 individual’s eligibility for benefits under subsection (a). 

17 (e) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this Act: 

18 (1) DOMESTIC PARTNER.—The term ‘‘domestic 

19 partner’’ means an adult person living with, but not 

20 married to, another adult person of the same sex in 

21 a committed, intimate relationship. 

22 (2) BENEFITS.—The term ‘‘benefits’’ means— 

23 (A) civil service retirement, as provided in 

24 chapter 83 of title 5, of the United States Code; 


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1 (B) Federal Employees’ Retirement, as 

2 provided in chapter 84 of title 5, United States 

3 Code; 

4 (C) life insurance, as provided in chapter 

5 87 of title 5, United States Code; 

6 (D) health insurance, as provided in chap7 ter 89 of title 5, United States Code; 

8 (E) compensation for work injuries, as pro9 vided in chapter 81 of title 5, United States 

10 Code; 

11 (F) family and medical leave, as provided 

12 in subchapter V of chapter 63 of title 5, United 

13 States Code; 

14 (G) long-term care insurance, as provided 

15 in chapter 90 of title 5, United States Code; 

16 (H) enhanced dental benefits, as provided 

17 in chapter 89A of title 5, United States Code; 

18 and 

19 (I) enhanced vision benefits, as provided in 

20 chapter 89B of title 5, United States Code. 

21 (3) EMPLOYEE.— 

22 (A) With respect to civil service retirement, 

23 the term ‘‘employee’’ shall have the meaning 

24 given such term in section 8331(1) of title 5, 

25 United States Code. 


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1 (B) With respect to Federal employees’ re2 tirement, the term ‘‘employee’’ shall have the 

3 meaning given such term in section 8401(11) of 

4 title 5, United States Code. 

5 (C) With respect to life insurance, the 

6 term ‘‘employee’’ shall have the meaning given 

7 such term in section 8701(a) of title 5, United 

8 States Code. 

9 (D) With respect to health insurance, the 

10 term ‘‘employee’’ shall have the meaning given 

11 such term in section 8901 of title 5, United 

12 States Code. 

13 (E) With respect to compensation for work 

14 injuries, the term ‘‘employee’’ shall have the 

15 meaning given such term in section 8101(1) of 

16 title 5, United States Code. 

17 (F) With respect to family and medical 

18 leave, the term ‘‘employee’’ shall have the 

19 meaning given such term in section 6381(1) of 

20 title 5, United States Code. 

21 (G) With respect to long-term care insur22 ance, the term ‘‘employee’’ shall have the mean23 ing given such term in section 9001(1) of title 

24 5, United States Code. 


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1 (H) With respect to enhanced dental bene2 fits, the term ‘‘employee’’ shall have the mean3 ing given such term in section 8951(1) of title 

4 5, United States Code. 

5 (I) With respect to enhanced vision bene6 fits, the term ‘‘employee’’ shall have the mean7 ing given such term in section 8981(1) of title 

8 5 United States Code. 

9 (4) OBLIGATIONS.—The term ‘‘obligations’’ 

10 means any duties or responsibilities with respect to 

11 Federal employment that would be incurred by a 

12 married employee or by the spouse of an employee. 

13 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

14 This Act including the amendments made by this Act 

15 shall apply to any individual who is employed as an em16 ployee on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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