Hillsborough Has Domestic Partnership Registry Change of Heart

Time changes everything and in some cases that includes the minds of politicians.

That was the case in Hillsborough County Wednesday when commissioners voted unanimously to move forward with an ordinance that would establish a domestic partnership registry in the county. Commissioners voted the idea down 4-3 back in January of last year.

“My position is based squarely on my faith and personal beliefs,” Commissioner Al Higginbotham said last January, before casting a vote against the domestic partnership registry.

Higginbotham has had a change of heart, The Tampa Tribune reported.

“I am not going to stand in the way or impede family members or loved ones in a time of medical crisis or emergency or end of life or making final arrangements,” Higginbotham said.

Before the county can officially establish its registry, an ordinance has to be drawn up, public hearings must be held and a final vote taken. The county is considering modeling its registry after the City of Tampa’s, which provides people who register the right:

• to visit his or her partner in health care facilities
• to make certain health care decisions for his or her partner
• to make funeral and burial decisions for his or her partner
• to be notified as a family member in case of emergency
• to be designated his or her partner’s pre-need guardian
• to participate in the education of his or her partner’s children

Pinellas County, Clearwater, Gulfport, St. Petersburg, Tampa and a host of other Bay area governments have all adopted domestic partner registries.

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See Also:

• Hillsborough Says ‘No’ to Domestic Partnership Registry