With weeks left in his tenure as the state’s governor, Tim Kaine is moving forward with a plan to add same-sex partners under Virginia’s employee health plan.

Tim Kaine

The Washington Post reports that Kaine has ordered his staff to put together a proposal expanding benefits to qualified adults who live in the same house as an insured state employee. Those adults could include heterosexual and homosexual partners, roommates, children and other family members, according to the report.

The Virginia Department of Human Resource Management told the Post that it expects no additional expense to the state, as employees would bear the cost of the addition and that a change would take about 18 months to implement.

That comes well after Kaine, a Democrat, is scheduled to exit from the governor’s office Jan. 16, and is raising the eyebrows of his successor, Republican Robert F. McDonnell.

At a press conference in Richmond Dec. 3, McDonnell said his first inquiry is the cost to the state, but he has other concerns.

“I am all for using business– public and private – to expand health-care coverage. . . . But what I don’t know is, what is the cost that has to be borne by the state government versus the individual new subscriber?” McDonnell said, according to the Post.

A spokeswoman for Kaine defended the current governor’s actions, saying that he will continue making proposals and taking actions “relevant to the welfare of the Commonwealth,” until his departure from office.