SALEM — A bill providing limited rights to couples who cannot marry will be introduced today in the Oregon House as an alternative to a same-sex civil unions measure being proposed by Gov. Ted Kulongoski.

The so-called "reciprocal benefits" bill is not a substitute for marriage, its chief backer, Rep. Dennis Richardson, R-Central Point, said.

"They are specific benefits appropriate for any two unmarried adults in a dependent relationship," he said, citing, for example, sisters sharing expenses or any other couple who cannot marry.

The measure is being introduced as a committee bill by the Rules Committee. Richardson said it probably would be assigned to the Judiciary Committee and he expected the first hearing to be held next week.

Rights granted under the House proposal would be far less than those in a competing proposal for civil unions. That legislation, Senate Bill 1000, would give same-sex couples hundreds of benefits, rights and privileges enjoyed by heterosexual married couples.

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The House measure is limited to medical and end-of-life decisions and property ownership. It includes preferential hospital visitation privileges, the right to inherit a deceased partner’s assets if there is no will and protection from eviction from a shared home in the event of one partner’s death.

The civil unions bill will get its first hearing Wednesday night beginning at 5 p.m.

Gays and lesbians are rallying behind the Senate measure following passage of a constitutional amendment, Ballot Measure 36, in November defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Kulongoski has made civil unions one of his top legislative priorities.

Among the sponsors are two Democrats and two Republicans, including Sen. Alan Bates, D-Ashland.

A spokeswoman for Basic Rights Oregon, the state’s largest gay rights organization, was critical of the House measure.

"This bill is anything but fair," Rebekah Kassell said. Kassell also noted that, unlike the Senate measure, the reciprocal rights proposal does not protect homosexuals from discrimination.

"It (the House measure) is totally inadequate for what same-sex families need to form lasting, lifetime, stable family units," she said.

Richardson, however, said when voters approved Measure 36, they weren’t endorsing what he called "marriage by another name."

Tim Nashif, political director for the Oregon Family Council, was quoted during the campaign that married couples should seek marriage-like rights through another avenue, such as civil unions.

Richardson said Nashif was really describing reciprocal benefits.

"No one knew last November what civil unions were," he said.

Nashif’s group opposes the Senate bill.

"Reciprocal benefits are not connected with marriage or sexual orientation," Richardson said. "It specifically addresses the issues that opponents said were the reason they were opposing Ballot Measure 36."

Under the proposed benefits bill, people who cannot marry could apply to the Department of Human Services for a certificate recognizing their partnership or relationship if they meet certain criteria, Richardson said.

Richardson said he plans to testify Wednesday against the civil unions bill before the Senate Rules Committee. And he predicted the House would approve his alternative proposal.

Don Jepsen is a freelance writer living in Salem.