December 22, 2009

City legislators in Mexico City passed a bill 39-20 that legalized gay marriage. The city's mayor is now expected to sign the bill into law. The bill calls for a change in the definition of marriage in the city's civic code. Marriage is currently defined as a union between a man and a woman; it will be changed to "the free uniting of two people." It should be of no surprise that the Catholic Church and conservative groups opposed this decision. Mexico City's legislature is dominated by the leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party, which has already legalized abortion and civil unions for same-sex couples.

The lawmakers in Mexico City have become the first in Latin America to legalize gay marriage. Some cities in Argentina, Ecuador, and Colombia permit civil unions for same-sex couples. Uruguay is the only Latin American country that legalized civil unions nationwide. They also have allowed same-sex couples to adopt children. Last month, an Argentinian court narrowly blocked what would have been the first gay marriage in Latin America (see Nov 17 entry for more background). In a last-minute challenge, a court referred the case to the Supreme Court, which should be making a ruling soon. (Full Story)

---

There is such a high unemployment rate in many states that their unemployment compensation programs are dwindling. The Department of Labor projects that 40 state programs will go broke within two years and need $90 billion in loans to keep issuing the benefit checks. The budget gaps are expected to increase in the coming year. This is putting pressure on state governments to either raise taxes or reduce the payments. Currently, 25 states have run out of unemployment money and have borrowed $24 billion from the federal government to cover the gaps in their budget.

Experts say the problem is that, during the economic boom, states failed to properly prepare for a downtown. Unemployment benefits are funded by the payroll tax on employers, and it's collected at a rate that is supposed to keep the funds solvent. Companies that fire a lot of people are supposed to pay higher rates. However, over the years, the drive to minimize state taxes on employers has reduced the funds to unsustainable levels. The director of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies said the problem has been the cut in taxes, and not that the benefits are higher. He expects states will cut eligibility or benefits. An expert on unemployment insurance at the Urban Institute said that going into the recession, state programs were on average funded at only one-third the level they should have been. He said before the recession, funding guidelines "were rarely honored." He added, "If you fund a program adequately, you don't need to come to these kind of difficult decisions." (Full Story)