While California's domestic partnership laws grant certain rights to same-sex couples, they do not provide all of the rights of marriage. On October 9, 2011, the legislature and Governor Brown corrected some of that inequity by passing the Domestic Partnership Equality Act. Effective in January, the law will provide for several rights already existing in marriage. Erik Newton, a partner at the San Francisco family law firm Heath-Newton, outlines some of the key provisions of the act.