Contracting laws push domestic partner benefits.(employee benefit plan)

New York City recently joined seven other cities, two counties and the state of California in requiring that contractors doing business with them offer employees domestic partner benefits, including extending those benefits to same-sex couples. If unchallenged, the New York rule goes into effect this month.

Contracting requirements for domestic partner benefits, known as equal benefits laws, have spread across the country since San Francisco's law passed in 1996.

"It's been our experience that the impact of contracting laws like New York's expands far beyond