Patricia Doxsey is reporting for the Daily Freeman that Dutchess County Clerk Bradford Kendall is urging county lawmakers to create a domestic partnership registry for unmarried county residents living in a close, committed, financially interdependent relationships. Kendall said the measure could ensure that unmarried couples who have been in long-term relationships are afforded rights, including hospital visitation rights and the right to participate in medical decision-making. He said the need for such a registry has become more apparent since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. “We get more and more calls to the office asking for a domestic partner registry,” Kendall said, adding that “virtually every county south of us” offers the registry. Under state law, domestic partners that can provide satisfactory documentation showing they live together and are financially interdependent and meet the criteria outlined in the affidavit of domestic partnership. Domestic partners can be of the same or opposite gender. The five boroughs of New York City and Suffolk, Westchester, Putnam, and Rockland counties provide domestic partner registries, Kendall said. The county Legislature previously considered establishing a registry in 2003 and 2007. Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.