CA Gay Marriage Bill Revived In State Senate

As reported earlier here, activists in California are very determined to get a gay marriage bill on the desk of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, this year. Although AB 19 failed by 4 votes to get a majority in the 80-member California State Assembly, the same-sex mariage bill is being heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee today. Since Mark Leno's AB 849 did pass the assembly 73-0, it has been gutted and amended and its contents replaced by the text of the previously moribund AB 19. The :new and improved" AB 849 currently has Senate co-authors Kuehl, Kehoe, Migden, Alarcon, Alquist, Cedillo, Figueroa, Simitian and Speier. There are 24 Democrats in the 40-member State Senate and the bill is expected to pass the upper body and be sent back to the Assembly for concurrence.