Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act of 2013

Bill: 113-s-1529
Sponsor: Sen. Baldwin, Tammy [D-WI]
Introduced: 2013-09-19 in the Senate
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Congressional agencies
Congressional oversight
Dental care
Department of Labor
Diplomacy, foreign officials, Americans abroad
Employee leave
Government Accountability Office (GAO)
Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
Government ethics and transparency, public corruption
Health care costs and insurance
Life, casualty, property insurance
Marriage and family status
Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
Sex, gender, sexual orientation discrimination
Transportation costs
Worker safety and health

Summary:
action_date: 2013-09-19
text: 
Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act of 2013 - States as the purpose of this Act to apply the same employment benefits and obligations to federal employees in same-sex domestic partnerships and to their domestic partners as apply to married federal employees and their spouses.
 
Amends provisions of federal civil service law to extend employment-related and retirement benefits to domestic partners of federal employees and to set forth requirements for establishing and terminating a domestic partnership, including the filing of an affidavit attesting to the existence and legitimacy of the partnership.
 
Requires authorized officers and agencies to develop and issue guidance documentation with respect to domestic partner benefits and obligations established by this Act. Provides for a biennial review of programs under which such benefits and obligations are established.
 
Modifies provisions relating to the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS) to extend eligibility for annuity and survivor benefits to current and former domestic partners of federal employees on the same basis as married employees. Requires the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to prescribe regulations to provide that domestic partners and former domestic partners shall be considered as spouses or former spouses for purposes of creditable service determinations under CSRS and FERS.
 
Makes domestic partners of federal employees eligible for: (1) the federal employee group life insurance (FEGLI) program, (2) federal employees health benefits (FEHB), (3) dental and vision benefit plans, and (4) long-term care insurance coverage. 
 
 Extends to domestic partners of federal employees: (1) reimbursement for taxes related to payments for travel, transportation, and moving or storage expenses; (2) payment of relocation expenses and reimbursement for related taxes incurred by federal employees transferred in the interest of the government, including employees on extended assignment; and (3) allowances for the transportation of family members of domestic partners held captive and repatriated. 
 
Modifies definitions applicable under the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA) to include domestic partners and their children.
 
Applies to domestic partners provisions of federal civil service law and regulations relating to: (1) voluntary transfers of leave and the voluntary leave bank program, (2) unpaid leave to care for family members under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, (3) settlement of accounts of federal employees who die without specifying a beneficiary, (4) federal employees in captive or missing status due to hostile action and employees or family members who suffer death or disability caused by hostile action, and (5) the annuity of the Comptroller General (GAO) and related survivor benefits.
 
 Amends the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to make provisions of that Act relating to financial disclosure, limitations on outside earned income and employment, and gifts to superiors and to federal employees applicable to federal employees in a domestic partnership and their domestic partners.
 
 Amends the federal criminal code to expand the applicability of prohibitions against bribery of public officials and conflicts of interest to cover a domestic partner of a federal official or employee and to include domestic partners in exemptions from such prohibitions. 
 
 Extends to domestic partners of public officials the prohibitions against the employment of relatives in federal service and against receiving gifts or decorations from a foreign government.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-09-19
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
action_date: 2013-09-19
text: Introduced in Senate