During its next meeting, the Alaska Personnel Board will consider a proposal that would allow same sex partners to take the same kind of leave when their partners have serious health conditions as those who have different sex partners.

As it stands now, even though state employees who have same sex partners are eligible for state benefits, they don’t get the same leave afforded to other employees when their partners get seriously ill.

The three member board is governor appointed. In this case, one of the members was appointed by former Gov. Sarah Palin. The other two are Gov. Sean Parnell appointees.

The board meets in Anchorage at 12 p.m. on Sept. 19, at the Bayview Building, 619 East Ship Creek Avenue.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com