BAN ON CIVIL UNIONS AND SSM CALLED BAD FOR BUSINESS: From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

It's taken weeks, but Atlanta's business community is finally on the verge of a public stand against Senate Resolution 595, the Republican attempt to inject a ban on gay marriage and civil unions into the state constitution.

We've come across a Friday memo from Sam Williams, president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.

The subject reads: "State Law Proposing Limitations on Company Employee Benefits."

The bottom line, according to Williams, is this: S.R. 595 "could place Georgia in a very uncompetitive situation and endanger the economic success of Metro Atlanta and Georgia." ...

The chamber memo outlines a discussion from last week's board of directors meeting.

The business types want no part of the argument over defining who can marry whom, but instead focus on the portion of the proposed amendment that reads, in part:

"The courts of this state shall have no jurisdiction . . . to consider or rule on any of the parties respective rights arising as a result of or in connection with [a same-sex] relationship."

That, the chamber believes, could interfere with intra-corporate transfers.

"Business must have the right, within existing federal law, to negotiate wages and benefits with employees.

"The state of Georgia should not limit business practices and make our state different than almost any other state in spelling out the limitations of employee benefits.

"This also applies to the beneficiaries of employees.

"The drafters of S.R. 595 may not have intended to regulate business, but the language contained in the second part of this bill could be interpreted as denying employees the right to name whomever they choose to benefit from employer's medical, insurance, or other personnel practices."

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posted by Eve at 1:10 PM | link

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