The measure that Governor Kaine has proposed is long overdue.  Extending benefits to partners of state workers is a critical means to ensure broader access to health insurance and other benefits, which will benefit all Virginians in the long run.  Governmental agencies, corporations of all stripes, and academic institutions across the country have long ago implemented such policies, which have not had the negative impact on state budgets that many commentators here suggest. In fact, this policy, overdue as it is, is an important means of ensuring that Virginia will be a state to which employers and workers will be drawn.  But, more than simply good business, this is a question of equality, which is in the best interests of all Virginians.