Source: Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News, KUTV
If one of its council members gets her way, Salt Lake County may offer all of its employees health insurance, extended funeral leave and a host of other benefits that now apply only to married couples.

Democratic Councilwoman Jenny Wilson urged county leaders Tuesday to offer health-care benefits to employees' financially dependent relatives, friends or domestic partners - otherwise known as adult designees - her voice cracking as she spoke of households not yet reached by insurance.

"I would hope my colleagues would embrace and support this," she said.

But Wilson ran into opposition again from a Republican member of the council who cast the deciding vote against a similar proposal that Wilson offered in 2005.

"I am really eager to figure out how to extend health benefits without necessarily doing it in a way that creates groups of people or is limited," David Crocker told Salt Lake Tribune. He said Wilson's current proposal is "too restrictive," according to the Tribune.

Wilson told Deseret News that she pulled the item from Tuesday's agenda to give another council member, Councilman Jeff Allen more time to study the proposal.

She said she's also made a minor change to the proposal that would allow married couples to add an adult. The previous version only allowed a person who is single to add an adult to the health benefits

The Republican-led County Council delayed for one week a decision on the measure.

The county measure is patterned after a similar measure adopted by Salt Lake City last year which was, in turn, modeled on a proposal first put before the county council in 2005.

Although the county council defeated Wilson's 2005 proposal, then-Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson retooled and expanded it for the city. The city's adult designee program was adopted and survived a court challenge.

Wilson told the News that she began working off the Salt Lake City plan for this year's proposal to the county council.

Wilson ran for mayor of the city in last year's election and just barely lost a close primary race to Ralph Becker who went on to become mayor. Both candidates expressed strong support for the city's adult designee program.

After taking office, Becker, the former House minority leader in the legislature, led an extended fight in this year's legislative session to maintain a partnership registry that the city had instituted under his guidance.

The legislature tried to strip Salt Lake City of its authority to maintain what was initially called a "domestic partners registry." In a compromise, Becker agreed to change the name of the registry, but was able to keep it otherwise unchanged.

Wilson's proposal to the county council would not depend on a registry and carefully avoids terms like "domestic partner" that the legislature has said are not allowed in the state because of its marriage-limitation amendment.

A county employee's "adult designee" could include siblings, long-term roommates, and unmarried partners.

Full article: SL County may be next for adult designee benefits | Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake County council tables decision on adult benefits | Deseret News
Becker, Not Wilson, Becomes The Mayoral Favorite | KUTV