Jan 05, 2007  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO J  | COMMENTS     

In a little-noticed action, the D.C. Council on Dec. 19 approved a bill that would allow registered domestic partners in the city to file joint returns for their District of Columbia income taxes beginning in the 2007 tax year.

The legislation, the Domestic Partnership Joint Filing Act of 2006, is the latest in a series of far-reaching domestic partner laws the Council has adopted over the past three years. Gay activists and city officials say the laws collectively provide same-sex couples with nearly all the local rights and benefits enjoyed by married couples.

“In reality, we have civil unions in all but name,” said gay D.C. Councilmember Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who voted for the bill. “It’s a real sign that this legislature is truly committed to equal rights for same-sex couples.”

But a strategy employed by councilmembers and some gay activists to prevent potential opposition to the bill in Congress, by avoiding publicity for the measure, may have inadvertently led to a delay in the bill being signed by outgoing Mayor Anthony Williams.

Williams had not signed the bill as of Dec. 28, nine days after the bill reached his desk, according to the Council’s legislative services office. Under city law, bills are sent to Congress for a final, 30-day congressional review period after the mayor signs them. If the mayor does not sign such a bill, it automatically is sent to Congress 15 business days after the Council passes it as long as the mayor does not veto it.

Williams, a long-time supporter of gay rights, has signed all the other domestic partner bills approved by the Council during his term in office, leaving activists puzzled over why he had not signed this one. His press secretary, Vince Morris, said late last week that he would make inquires to determine whether Williams would sign the bill before his term as mayor ended Tuesday. Morris did not call back by press time.

A. Billy S. Jones, chair for Williams’ Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Advisory Committee, said he was not aware of the bill until contacted about it by the Washington Blade on Dec. 31. He said no one from the mayor’s office, including Darlene Nipper, director of the mayor’s Office of LGBT Affairs Office, informed the advisory panel about the bill.

‘It’s a great bill’

Incoming Mayor Adrian Fenty said on Jan. 1 that he would be happy to sign the bill if Williams chose not to do so. Fenty has until Jan. 10 to sign the measure before it is dispatched to Congress automatically following the deadline of 15 business days.

If Fenty signs the bill, it would be the first known time that a Washington mayor signed a piece of legislation that he or she also voted for while a member of City Council.

“It’s a great bill,” Fenty said Monday. “That’s news to me,” he added, when asked if he knew why Williams had not signed the measure as of Dec. 28. “Let me find out. But my record on the bill stands. We’ll make sure it happens.”

Fenty was sworn in as mayor in a private ceremony at the D.C. Court of Appeals Tuesday. He postponed his public swearing-in, originally planned for that day, until Wednesday in deference to the funeral in Washington of former President Gerald Ford.

Councilmember Jack Evans (D-Ward 1), who chairs the council’s Committee on Finance & Revenue, introduced the joint tax-filing bill on Oct. 17. Evans and his Council colleagues followed the Council’s procedures for “announcing” new legislation by placing a notice about the bill and a required public hearing on the measure in the District of Columbia Register.

But Evans and the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance, which worked with Evans to promote the bill behind the scenes, chose not to publicize the bill through a news release or through Evans’ weekly constituent newsletter, which his office sends to Ward 2 constituents and the news media by e-mail.

GLAA spokesperson Rick Rosendall said the low-key approach was in keeping with the group’s strategy for adopting gay-supportive legislation without triggering opposition in Congress. Under the city’s limited home rule charter adopted by Congress in the early 1970s, Congress retains the option of preventing any locally passed city law from taking effect by deciding whether or not to veto the law during a 30-day congressional review period.

Evans’ committee held its hearing on the bill Nov. 2. GLAA’s former president Bob Summersgill and officials with the city’s Office of Tax & Revenue were the only witnesses that showed up to testify at the hearing. The ...