Tampa City Council members voted Thursday morning to ask the city's lawyers to draft an ordinance that would establish a domestic partner registry for  the city.

Council member Yvonne Yolie Capin suggested the ordinance, which she said should be based on a similar ordinance in Orlando. There, the ordinance recognizes the rights of registered domestic partners to, among other things, visit their partners in the hospital and decide on how their partner's body will be disposed of after death. It is administered by the city clerk, who charges registrants a $30 fee, she said.

Council members, with Charlie Miranda, Frank Reddick and Lisa Montelione absent at the vote, voted unanimously to ask the legal department to look at Orlando's ordinance and prepare a draft to be presented at 9 a.m. March 15.