yesthattom | NJBEST and NJDP details

So everyone is talking about NJ becoming the 5th state to recognize Domestic Parterships. However, you might miss that the same Senate just passed an improvement to NJBEST. NJBEST permits parents to save taxes by putting money away for their children's college education. The law passed this week (and sure to be signed by the Governor) lets non-parents also contribute to the NJBEST fund of a child. What this means is that same-sex couples can now benefit from the NJBEST plan (both by receiving the tax benefit, and the social benefit of another child with a well-funded college education).

So what are the financial implications of the Domestic Partnership law?

According to The Express-Times:

-- Be granted the right to collect the public pensions of deceased partners;
-- Be guaranteed hospital visitation during illnesses;
-- Qualify to receive health benefits in a partner's name.

But the legislation would fall short of issuing the full protection of married couples in two ways. Partners in the arrangements would have less extensive property rights if they split, and child custody rights would be slightly scaled back. (end quote)

However the real exicting thing about the DP law is that it is the first state to have such a law that didn't include a DOMA provision (i.e. doesn't explicitly ban the possibility of same-sex marriage being legalized in the future).

(and a personal note: I've been involved in both of these bills, though only as webmaster for the New Jersey Lesbian and Gay Coalition for the last 6 months. I couldn't be at the actual vote in Trenton yesterday because my soon-to-be-previous-employer took me and my group out for drinks to celebrate me leaving.)

More news here:
http://www.nj.com/newsflash/topstories/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1073594942316270.xml