A tied vote by the City Council, broken by the mayor, on Tuesday overturned a voter initiative that ended health benefits for gay and unmarried partners of city employees. The initiative, approved last November, also ended benefits for more than 100 others because of the way it was worded.
In front of a large, often-emotional audience, city Reps. Beto O'Rourke, Steve Ortega, Susie Byrd and Rachel Quintana voted to support Mayor John Cook's ordinance to restore benefits to partners of city employees and all others who lost them as a result of the vote.